Fallen Light
by Writer25
Summary: When Joleena, Anna, and Jodie are taken by the Tenebrosi Sanction Mr. Beauchene, Joe and their friends races to save them before the Tenebrosi can enact their evil plans. Two mysterious time travelers come to their aid, but they're holding a shocking secret. Along the way they also meet a mysterious magician who claims to be an ally.
1. Chapter 1

Jodie entered the lock code on the door and swiped her access card to register that she was the one who closed that night. She nodded to the security bot and walked out into the side walk. She loved her new job but she absolutely hated it when her manager made her close up for the night.

The streetlights were on but it made the area no less creepy. Especially since the curfew meant that there weren't a lot of people out. It was also eerily quiet out.

She hopped onto her hover board and headed home. Sure people were starting to upgrade to the new hover bikes, but she still loved the thrill of balancing on a hover board. Besides, they were a lot easier to carry around.

"Ugh, I can't wait to take a nice hot bath." Jodie mumbled. "Maybe I'll try that new hair conditioning treatment I bought."

Her penthouse had just come into view when something hit her ankle, sending her flying off her board. She screamed and hit the pavement hard, knocking the air out of her lungs. Jodie lay there, paralyzed with pain when a hooded figure loomed over her. She screamed again and tried to scramble away but shadows emerged from the ground and encased her body and her mouth

Her eyes widened in terror and tears filled her eyes as she felt herself being pulled into the ground. Before she disappeared completely she saw another hooded figure appear and they both let down their hoods. They smiled at her and spoke in unison.

"All hail the Tenebrosi Sanction."

Jodie let loose another muffled scream of terror and was pulled through the shadows completely.

* * *

"No Joseph, I told you my dad is visiting this weekend so you can't come by tonight." Joleena smiled as she spoke her boyfriend on the phone. "Oui, we both know that he could very much afford a hotel, but I have plenty of rooms here... no, Joseph you can't sneak over... oui, I love you too. Goodnight Joseph."

Joleena hung up and stretched her arms over her head. She would have loved to have her boyfriend spend the night with her, but it was time for her father's annual weekend visit and he would kill her if he found out at she and Joseph were intimate. She would have even risked sneaking Joseph over, but he had a tendency to make her a bit... loud.

Joleena felt herself blush at the thought and decided to go downstairs for some ice cream. She opened her bedroom door and was just passing her normal study room when she heard her father's voice coming from inside.

"No Windell, of course Joleena doesn't know." He was saying. "We both took great pains to make sure she never finds out, you know that."

"Daddy?" Joleena whispered to herself and moved closer to the door.

Her father was pacing back and forth in the middle of the floor, talking on his phone. His forehead was creased with worry and his eyes were anxious.

"Of course, I'll preform the spell on her tonight to make sure that her memory stays erased. This is why I visit her every year, you know that." Her father continued. "There's no telling what she'd do if she'd ever found out-"

A shudder went though Joleena's body and she turned around with a sharp gasp. Dark magic had just entered her home, and it felt like it was coming from her room. She rushed back inside, fists glowing, but found nothing amiss.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind her and black bands of shadow magic appeared across the door and spread all over her walls. Joleena tried blasting it with her magic but the shadows merely absorbed the blast.

"Please come quietly Miss Beauchene."

"Yes, those bands will prevent any noise from escaping so please do not bother screaming."

Joleena turned around and saw two hooded figures emerge from the floor, a middle age man and woman. Both had fair skin, dark brown hair, and dark orange eyes. Shadow flowed from their fingertips and from under their feet and the Tenebrosi Sanction symbol was sewn onto their cloaks.

"Who are you to dare enter my home like this?" Joleena said angrily, her own magic flaring up. "I demand you leave immediately!"

The man smiled at her and raised his fist. "I'm afraid that isn't possible Miss Beauchene."

Joleena narrowly dodged under the blast and charged towards him. Her fist connected with his jaw with a satisfying crack, but the woman kicked her in the side sending her crashing into the wall. The black bands reacted negatively against her and she screamed in pain. She jumped back up though and faced them.

"Last warning." She said through clenched teeth. "Leave now."

Both the man and the women smiled at her. "I'm afraid we can't do that Miss Beauchene."

They raised their hands and shadows shot forth flying directly towards her. Joleena used her magic to form two sharp, curved blades. She ran through the shadow beast, slashing them in half with her blades until she reached the man and the woman. She leapt into the air with a scream and aimed a blow at them, but they vanished into shadows.

Joleena landed on the floor and rolled with the momentum. Just as she turned around though the man suddenly reappeared and blasted her hard in the chest. She screamed in pain as she flew back and crashed into her dresser, breaking it in half. Splinters of wood stabbed into her shoulders and warm, sticky blood ran down her back. The residual dark magic constricted around her chest and crushed the air out of her lungs.

The woman clicked her tongue and walked slowly towards her. "Miss Beauchene, we asked you to come quietly and now-"

"-you've made us go against orders and hurt you." The man finished and started coming towards her as well.

Joleena's breath came in ragged gasps and she looked around desperately. She spotted her cellphone on the floor near her bed. She stood up slowly and bit back another scream of pain. Her magic swirled in the air and gathered in her palms. Just before they reached her, she thrust her arms downward and the magic flared out and filled the room with a brilliant white purple light, also propelling Joleena upwards.

The man and woman screamed and covered their faces with their cloaks so they wouldn't be blinded. Joleena used the momentum from the blast to fly over their heads and crashed down to the floor near her bed. She picked up her cellphone and quickly dialed Joe's number.

"Come on, come on." She rasped as the dark magic reached her throat. "Please don't be asleep yet."

Finally the receiver clicked and she heard his voice. "Hey babe, did you change your mind-"

"Protect Anna!" Joleena screamed hoarsely. "Protect Anna at all costs! The Tenebrosi-"

The cell phone was suddenly shot out of her hands and disintegrated into dust. Joleena was yanked bodily off the floor by a rope of shadow and was slammed painfully against the wall. Blood sprayed out of her mouth and she slid down to the floor, the wind knocked out of her completely.

The man and the woman walked towards her slowly with tight smiles on their faces. They were the last thing Joleena saw before the shadows covered her completely.

* * *

Anna ran out of the house and rushed down the street, trying to make it to school on time. A woman wearing a dark cloak stepped around the corner and smiled down at her.

Anna slowed to a stop. "Um, hi? Can I help you?"

"Yes you can actually." The woman smiled at her. "Do us a favor Anna Arthur and try not to scream."

Anna's eyes widened in fear and she quickly brushed past the woman and began to run. She glanced behind her and saw a man in a cloak appear out of the shadows beside the woman. They both raised their arms and a giant bird made out of shadows flew out of their sleeves and headed directly towards her.

Anna screamed and tried running faster, but suddenly she was bodily lifted off of the ground and darkness consumed her.


	2. Chapter 2

Joe's head was throbbing with anxiety as he left class and walked aimlessly around campus, waiting for a phone call. He couldn't go back to his dorm or else Fred would keep pestering him about Fina's whereabouts and he wasn't quite sure how Fred would handle the truth. Beat the crap out of him probably.

But Joe didn't have a choice especially after Joleena's frantic phone call a few nights ago. He ran a hand over his face as fear gripped his heart. Not even The Book had been able to find Joleena and he found out from a tearful Freddi that Jodie had gone missing as well.

His cellphone rang and he hastily answered it. "Hey! Are you alright?... are you sure you saw it? …. Okay stay where you are, I'm going to pick you up and we'll head over there together. Okay, bye."

Joe rounded a corner and found himself behind one of the classroom buildings. He started to turn around when a hand suddenly grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the building. Mr. Beauchene scowled at him, his eyes burning yellow, and leaned his face close to Joe's.

"Where. Is. My. Daughter?" He said in a low menacing voice. "Tell me what you've done to her!"

"I – don't – know." Joe barely managed to choke out. "But I – know who – took her."

Mr. Beauchene let go of his neck and Joe fell to the ground, gasping and panting for air. Mr. Beauchene heaved a weary sigh and ran his hand over his face.

"Joleena is my only child and the light of my life." He said sadly. "I went to her room to check on her when I found the place a wreck and there was blood, and – they used a spell so that I couldn't even hear her scream."

"I know." Joe felt his own heart grow heavy. "She managed to call me before they took her."

"And just who are they!?" Mr. Beauchene thundered. "Who dares lay a hand on a Beauchene!?"

"Shh... keep your voice down, sir." Joe looked around to make sure no one was watching them. "The people who took her work for a group called the Tenebrosi Sanction."

"Not the Tenebrosi." Mr. Beauchene paled. "They are the darkest and most evil magic association in existence. Joleena has never encountered their kind before."

"Unfortunately she has and so have I, but we don't know much about them or how to deal with them." Joe pulled out his car keys. "But I do know someone who might be able to. But first, we have to stop and pick someone up. Come on, I parked my car-"

"That won't be necessary." Mr. Beauchene grabbed his arm and his eyes began to glow yellow again. "I have a faster method of travel."

* * *

Sam sat at the table with San-Li, Samantha, and Alex and listened to just how much he had been missing when he went away to MIT last month. Because of the heavy course load he had only been able to visit once, so he had borrowed the Book from Joe to contact his great grand daughter and begged her to keep an eye on San-Li and his children. Like he had expected San-Li was pretty hostile towards Samantha at first but once she realized she was her great grandmother as well, they settled into an easy friendship.

"So have either of them started walking yet?" Sam asked.

"Not yet. They do crawl everywhere though." San-Li said feeding Keiko a spoonful of strained peas. "They have Alex practically running around trying to keep them from hurting themselves."

"Although I swear I almost had Sammy walking last week." Samantha giggled as he stood up in her lap and tugged on her hair. "But San-Li said that you would want to be here for his first steps."

Sam sighed. "I do, but I don't want to prevent him from walking if he's ready just because I'm not here."

He reached out to touch his young son, but Sammy shied away from him and looked at Samantha in confusion.

"That's da-da." Samantha said softly. "Can you say da-da?"

"Da-ba-bo-oo..." Sammy babbled and looked Sam again.

Sam smiled and held his arms out. Sammy hesitated and looked at Samantha again, but then let himself be placed in Sam's arms by her. Sam held onto Sammy and smiled at him, but his son only stared back and leaned a little away from him. Alex leaned close to Sam and made a silly face until Sammy laughed and finally relaxed in Sam's arms.

There was a knock on the door and Alex got up to opened it, revealing Fred who looked slightly agitated. Keiko shrieked when she saw him and started flailing excitedly in her high chair.

"Hey guys," Fred said walking in. "Is Fina here?"

"Nope. Haven't seen her all weekend." San-Li grunted, lifting Keiko out of her high chair. "Did you ask Joe?"

"Yeah, but he's acting all shady. Only tell me that she was running an errand." Fred huffed and sat at the table. "I'm getting really tired of Joe ordering around my girlfriend all the time."

"Well she is eternally bonded to him, remember?" San-Li mumbled.

"So are you but he doesn't order you around like he does her."

"Wait, you're bonded to Joe too?" Sam frowned at her. "You never told me that."

San-Li shrugged and looked away. "It never came up."

Sam looked down and started bouncing a fussing Sammy. "That explains why our bond mark disappeared. I thought it was because you quit time thieving but I guess that's not the case is it?"

Suddenly, there was a tremendous clap of thunder and a flash of yellow light. San-Li quickly handed Keiko off to Samantha and a sword appeared in her hands. The twins began to wail and clung to Samantha and Sam in fear as Fred and San-Li protectively stepped out in front of them.

When the light faded they saw Joe and Mr. Beauchene standing before them. San-Li lowered her sword, but didn't put it away.

"San-Li," Joe said stepping up to her. "Joleena, Jodie, and Fina have been taken by the Tenebrosi Sanction and we need your help to get them back."

"Fina?" Fred's eyes widened in terror. "B-but how? I thought you said she was running an errand for you? How did she get taken by the Tenebrosi?"

"Because," Joe sighed and looked away. "Because I told her to."

Fred stared at him and his face turned red with anger. "You what?"

"He told her too because," Anna sighed and stepped out from behind Mr. Beauchene. "Because they were after me."


	3. Chapter 3

Fred stared at Joe with clenched fists. "You made Fina play decoy for the Tenebrosi Sanction!?"

"Now Fred," Joe said carefully. "Calm down, Fina wanted to go. She said she could handle it."

"Because she'd do anything you tell her to!" Fred yelled at him.

"Fred! Zip it!" San-Li snapped at him and turned to Joe. "What do you need to me to do Joe? Do you have any idea where they took them?"

"No." Joe shook his head with a sigh. "I tried to get The Book to warp to where we found your brother but it said that the place didn't exist. Then the page burnt away. You've dealt with dark magic before. Do you know what this means?"

"It means that they've burned the place down with dark magic. Now no one can travel there in any place in history. The Book burned the page out to protect you." San-Li bit her lip and tapped her chin in thought. "But I think I know how to locate them."

She left for her bedroom leaving an tense silence in her wake. Fred was still glaring daggers at Joe and Sam kept his focus on his still sniffling son not looking at him either. Joe's shoulders slumped and he felt weary. He was worried about Fina too, but he had his reasons. Joleena said to protect Anna at all costs and he had to trust her judgment. But he couldn't blame Fred for being pissed. He just hoped that he would forgive him eventually.

After a few moments San-Li came back out carrying a large roll of old looking paper and a oriental fan. She gestured for Joe to follow her into the living room and she unrolled the paper on the floor revealing a hand drawn map with islands and continents that he had never seen before. It was also written in a strange language.

"Alright," San-Li said. "This is an abbreviated map of the magic world. This small clusters of islands here is where we found Mad Jack's lair and my brother. This large mass in the center is Syrania, one of the most powerful magic kingdoms. We can cross those two places out."

"Then where do we start?" Joe stared at all the places on the map. "It would take too long to search everywhere."

"With this." San-Li held out the fan to him. "The _Akiraka ni suru._ It can find any secret location no matter what kind of cloaking spell might be hiding it. Hold it in your hand, think of your heart's desire that you want to locate, and wave it over the map."

Joe took the fan from her and could instantly feel it's magic as well as just how ancient it was. He closed his eyes and thought of Jodie, Fina, and Joleena, the love of his life. An anxious sigh escaped his lips as he opened his eyes and waved the fan over the map.

The symbols of the fan began to glow and as he fanned all the other islands and continents on the map seemed to blow away leaving one small island a distance away from Syrania.

"Keep fanning." San-Li mumbled.

She then place two fingers on the small island and dragged her fingers out, causing the island to grow in size and more details appeared. There were now paths criss crossing the island as well as mountain ranges, rivers, what looked like a desert, a village, and a castle. Joe kept fanning and a red mark appeared on the castle.

"Stop!" San-Li stared at the map silently for a few moments and closed her eyes. "Okay... I got it. I can get you there."

Joe breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you."

"Whatever." San-Li brushed his hand away with a small smile. "I'm bonded to serve you remember?"

Joe returned her smile and they went back to the kitchen, where everyone was waiting anxiously.

"Well?" Mr. Beauchene said tensely. "Have you found my daughter yet?"

"An island a distance away from Syrania." San-Li answered him. "They must be using some strong cloaking magic for no one to know that they're there."

"Then we should leave immediately!" Mr. Beauchene thundered and Anna nodded in agreement.

San-Li raised an eyebrow and leaned close to Joe. "Are you sure you want to bring daddy dearest and the runt? This could get messy fast with too many people."

"Trust me, I don't like the idea either." Joe mumbled. "But nothing on earth could stop Mr. Beauchene from searching for Joleena and it can't hurt to have a power magician with us. And Anna can almost readily see into the future now. That could give us an advantage over them if we can see what's coming ahead of time."

"Alright then." San-Li nodded and went over to the table and gently hugged both of her children. "You guys are going to stay here with daddy, Alex, and Samantha. Mommy has some business to take care of."

Both of the twins started to fuss and Sam frowned at her. "You said you're going anywhere!? You're retired and just had kids remember?"

San-Li sighed in exasperation. "Sam I told you before that I'm bonded to Joe. Part of that bond means that I have to protect him in dangerous situations. I think that this is a pretty dangerous situation don't you?"

"Well then I'm going with you." Sam stood and placed Sammy is Alex's arms.

"I'm going too." Fred shot another angry glare at Joe. "Someone needs to be there who actually cares about Fina's safety."

Joe sighed. "Fred..."

"Save it Joe, I don't want to hear it from you."

"Are you sure about this San-Li?" Samantha said gently. "You said yourself that you feel out of shape remember?"

San-Li smirked, but her eyes looked slightly apprehensive. "Well it looks like I'm about to get a work out huh?"

"Are we quite ready yet?" Mr. Beauchene said impatiently. "In case you forgot Joseph my daughter is being held captive by the worst group imaginable!"

Joe grit his teeth to bite back his reply and opened The Book. San-Li directed him to a page near the back filled with strange symbols and had him turn The Book upside down. The symbols fell down the page and morphed into the same map they had seen earlier. Joe placed his finger on the same island the fan located and the green mist warped them away.


	4. Chapter 4

Jodie drifted up from the darkness into slow consciousness with a persistent buzzing in her head. As her eyes came into focus she realized that she was sitting in a dungeon. Water dripped from the ceiling onto the stone floor creating a monotonous tapping sound. It was mostly dark except for dim torch lights on the wall.

Her body felt stiff and as she tried to shift into a more comfortable position, she realized that her wrists were shackled to the wall behind her. Panic began to take hold of her and her breath came in ragged gasps.

"Hello?" She called hoarsely. "Is anybody there?"

A dark shape shifted next to her and she jumped away with a surprised scream.

"Jodie?" A soft voice said. "Is that you?"

The shape sat up and Jodie could see that it was Anna, also shackled to the wall with chains. But then Anna blinked and her brown eyes turned bright blue. Jodie gasped as Anna's light brown skin paled and became fair, and her short brown hair grew blond and curly. When the transformation finished it was Fina sitting beside her.

"Fina?" Jodie blinked at her. "You're here?"

"Are you okay? You aren't hurt are you?" Fina asked her gently.

"No." Jodie mumbled looking away. "I'm alright."

She knew she shouldn't feel this way, but seeing Fina brought back some pretty heavy feelings. But now definitely wasn't the time to relive old memories.

"Do you know where we are?" She asked looking around her.

"Uh-uh." Fina shook her head. "But maybe I can help get us out of here. But first we have to try and find Joleena."

"They took Miss Joleena too?" Jodie eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, but I-"

Fina suddenly went rigid and sat up a little straighter. She looked towards the cell bars and appeared to be listening for something. After a moment Jodie heard it too. Footsteps coming directly towards them. She cast a panicked look towards Fina, but she looked completely calm.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here." A man wearing a dark uniform and a mask that obscured most of his face walked up to their cell and leered at them. "Two pretty young girls all by themselves."

Jodie cringed and shrunk back against the grimy cell wall. The man chuckled and leaned against the bars to stare at her.

"Please sir," Fina said softly. "W-where are we? We're so very scared."

Jodie's head snapped towards Fina in shock. She was staring up at the guard with a soft doe eyed expression, tears standing out in her eyes. The man smiled even harder and looked Fina up and down slowly.

"You poor thing," the man chuckled darkly. "I'd come in and keep you company, but my orders say that I can't touch either of you."

"But I'm so scared." Fina whimpered softly. "It's so dark and cold in here. I can't stop shivering."

"Fina! What the hell are you doing?" Jodie hissed.

"Shh. I have it all handled." Fina whispered and turned back to the man. "Please sir. Isn't there anything you can do to keep me warm?"

The man grinned and held up a set of keys. "I'm sure that there's something I can do."

A nervous sweat broke out all over Jodie's body as the man opened the cell and came towards Fina slowly. She watched in horror as he knelt down in front of Fina and tilted her face up towards his. But suddenly Fina's soft smile disappeared and she transformed into a large anaconda, slipping out of her shackles. The man's eyes widened in terror and he scrambled away from her.

"Holy-" before he could finish yelling out, Fina wrapped around his body and squeezed tightly. Jodie looked away feeling squeamish as she listened to his muffled struggling. He then went quiet and there was a soft thump.

"Okay, he's out now."

Jodie opened her eyes and saw that Fina had transformed back into her human form. The man was laying unconscious on the ground.

"Good. Now can you unlock these shackles?" Jodie said. "I want to get out of here before another creep comes along."

* * *

 _She stood at the top of a grand staircase. It was dark except for the moon light that came through the window. Her magic was still crackling in her hands, it's bright purple light probably casting eerie shadows on her face. That's most likely what had scared him. He had screamed when he saw her and all it look was a flash of her magic to temporarily blind him and send him reeling. And now he lay at the bottom of the staircase, broken and bleeding._

 _Joleena felt her lips turn up in a smile._

Joleena woke up slowly and found herself laying on a bed in a small dark room. Was that a nightmare she just had? It sure felt like it, though the staircase seemed vaguely familiar. She sat up and hissed in pain, touching her shoulder gingerly. It had been bandaged tightly and she could still feel the dried blood. She carefully climbed out of the bed and looked around her. The room was barely big enough to pace in. A glass wall seal off the room with air holes cut into the top.

Joleena tried to summon her magic into her hands, but found that she couldn't and the buzzing in her head increased. She looked around again and saw that there were symbols carved in near the top of the ceiling, effectively blocking out magic.

"Well that explains the buzzing." Joleena rubbed her temple. " _Zut Alors!_ There must be someway out of here!"

She stood up and started searching for a weak spot. But the walls and floor were solid stone and the bed was melded to the floor. Fear started to take hold of her so she sat down on the bed to try and meditate.

"Okay deep breathes. Deep breathes." She whispered to herself. "Joseph will come for me and if not him, daddy will. All I have to do is remain calm and ready to fight."

Joleena kept breathing and meditating, but it was hard to remain calm without being able to tap into her magic. She felt so empty without it. Even before she could utilize it properly, Joleena could always feel it stirring within her.

"I see you are awake Miss Beauchene."

"Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable, Miss Beauchene?"

Joleena opened her eyes and saw the man and the woman who kidnapped her standing in front of her cell. She automatically tensed up and glared at them.

"Where am I?" She growled at them. "I demand you let me out of here!"

"I don't think that you're in any position to demand anything." Antonia stepped up behind the man and woman with a scowl on her face. "Unfortunately, you've been chosen to play a key role in the Tenebrosi's plans."

Antonia then nodded to the man and the woman and they held their hands up against the glass. The glass rippled and two shadow arms shot forth and grabbed Joleena.

"Let me go!" Joleena struggled against them, but it was no use.

The shadow arms pulled her through the glass and formed tight ropes around her. The man and the woman stood on each side of her and forced her to walk. Antonia lead the way down the dark hallway. The dark ropes also restricted her magic, but she looked around wildly to see if she could find any other way to escape.

The image of the staircase flashed through her mind again, this time in much clearer focus. Joleena hissed in pain and shook her head to clear the image. The staircase was so familiar to her that she could have sworn she saw it in real life.

Joleena snapped out of her thoughts when they stopped in front of large wooden doors guarded by two large men carrying swords. They stepped aside for Antonia and they dragged Joleena inside.

The room was large with an array of mystical symbols drawn onto the floor in a circular pattern and a white table with straps sat in the center. Over a dozen men and woman in dark hooded cloaks stood waiting with spell books in their hands. They were heavily tattooed and looked at Antonia expectantly.

"Okay, put her on the bed." Antonia mumbled.

"No!" Joleena panicked and fought the men and woman holding her. "Let me go! I demand that you let me go! What are you planning with me?"

Antonia snarled and leaned in the corner to watch. "Nothing you deserve whore. It should be me the Tenebrosi uses not you."

"Now Antonia you know we have our orders." The woman smiled and patiently helped the man strap her to the bed.

"There would be severe consequences if we do not obey." The man added.

Joleena kicked and fought but without her magic she was close to useless. They strapped her to the bed and the dark magic laced within them burned her skin. The man and woman gave her one final smile before moving out of her sight.

"Alright begin." Antonia said dismissively.

The bed slowly rotated into a vertical, standing position. The dark sorcerers stood at various positions around the circle and began chanting. The symbols and marking began to glow dark red and the light spread throughout the circle, heading directly towards the bed.

Joleena's heart pounded in fear. She struggled against the straps but they only tightened. The dark red light reached the bed and quickly enveloped her.

"Aaaah!" Joleena screamed in agony.

It felt like fire was tearing through her skin and her body was being torn apart from the inside. She tried to fight against it, but she could feel it penetrating throughout her body.

"Stop! Please!" She cried feeling tears running down her face. "It hurts!"

But the chanting became louder and the pain increased. Joleena could no longer form coherent thoughts. Her body arched off the bed as she continued to scream.

"Alright that's enough!" Antonia called out in a bored tone.

The chanting stopped and Joleena's body went limp. She felt sick to her stomach and her body spasmed painfully. Breathing hurt. Blinking hurt. Every inch and every pore in her body was in agony.

Antonia came towards her and forcefully tilted her head up sending a fresh waves of pain down her spine. Antonia leaned close to her and smiled.

"What you're feeling now Joleena, it's only going to get worse." She said with quiet menace. "But you won't die. The Tenebrosi Sanction won't allow it yet."

Antonia let her go and her head dropped heavily onto her chest, making her whimper in pain. The man and the woman released the straps and caught her by the arms as she fell.

"Take her back to her room." Antonia instructed them. "We'll continue this in another few hours. Give the initial spell time to take some effect before we do it again."

Joleena tried to lift her head to make one final desperate plea, but her eyes slid shut and she lapsed into darkness.

 **A/N- If you can't already tell this is going to be an epic story. Also, check out my Deviant Art and my Tumblr for cool sneak peak art like this one called Dark Possession. Check out my profile for the links and don't forget to leave a comment**


	5. Chapter 5

They dragged themselves out of the water sputtering and gasping and onto the shore. The beach stretched before them, leading to a flat rocky terrain. Beyond that was a thick forest.

"What the heck happened, Joe?" Fred yelled, wringing out his shirt. "Why did you warp us into the water?"

"I didn't! I swear I touched the island." Joe said shaking the salt water out of The Book. "What happened, San-Li?"

San-Li sighed and checked her sword for any salt water damage. "The Tenebrosi utilizes a few different kinds of dark magic, anti magic, and cloaking magic. They must be using a spell that prevents time travelers from warping directly to their hiding spot."

"Well what do we do? We have to find Joleena and the others." Anna said.

Mr. Beauchene glared at Joe. "I swear Joseph, if anything happens to my daughter because of your incompetence-"

Joe returned his glare. "Did you not just hear her say that the Tenebrosi did this!?"

"Will both of you shut up so I can think!? Geez you're worse than my kids!" San-Li squeezed her eyes shut. "I memorized the map but I would need a higher view of the island so I can tell exactly where we are."

"Leave that to me." Mr. Beauchene said.

Joe watched in amazement as Mr. Beauchene gathered up his bright yellow magic in his hands and thrust his fists into the ground. The magic circled the ground under them and they sand shot up into the air creating a giant pillar.

"Whoa!" Joe gasped.

The sand pillar definitely gave them a bird's eye view of the island. He could see the village and the mountain ranges in the distance as well as the castle where the Tenebrosi were.

"There!" He pointed. "East I think."

"Right, hold on everyone!" Mr. Beauchene raised his arms and the surface of the pillar broke off and they went sailing through the air.

They all screamed and held on the sand for dear life as they flew towards the castle. The wind stung Joe's eyes, making tears form but he couldn't care less. With Mr. Beauchene's powerful magic they were that much closer to rescuing everyone. He could practically see Joleena's face and the love in her eyes when he busted in to rescue her.

"Joe, I highly advise against this!" San-Li yelled.

"What are you talking about? This is great!" Joe yelled back. "We'll make there in no time!"

"But they'll see us coming a mile away! You really think they're just going to let us fly directly to their front door? Besides we don't know what kind of creatures inhabit this island or the air around it."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Suddenly there was several loud screeching noises and something bright streaked up into the air right in front of him. Several more streaked up in the air around them and Joe could see that they were bright, orange and red birds. Then one of them hit the sand and there was an explosion of flames.

"What the heck was that!?" Sam yelled.

Several more hit the sand they were flying on making it spin wildly out of control. Mr. Beauchene yelled for everyone to hold on but then a large, already flaming, bird slammed into them and everything exploded.

Joe clung to Anna as the sand under them disintegrated and they went hurling through the air along with Mr. Beauchene. The last thing he saw was Fred, San-Li, and Sam flying in the other direction before they disappeared among the trees.

* * *

It was the thick trees that saved their lives. The branches and leaves cushioned their fall on the way to the ground so they only ended up with bruises and scratches. Fred hissed in pain as San-Li squeezed up and down his arms, making sure nothing was broken or sprained.

"What was that?" Sam asked. "They looked like birds but they exploded like bombs!"

"Inferno birds." San-Li mumbled. "Highly territorial, highly explosive. No pun intended."

"So what do we do now?" Fred asked. "We don't have The Book and neither of us have any magic powers."

San-Li closed her eyes. "I don't know about finding the others but I'm pretty sure I can get us to the castle. My bet is that Joe, Anna, and Mr. Beauchene will be there waiting for us. As for no powers I'm pretty sure I can handle protecting us."

"Are you sure?" Sam said laying a hand on her shoulder. "Sweetheart, you just had children and you've been home raising them. Are you sure you're strong enough for this?"

San-Li shot him a glare and shrugged his hand off. "I'm plenty strong Sam."

"Can we please get going?" Fred said impatiently. "Fina might be in serious trouble. Especially when they realize that she isn't Anna."

San-Li pointed them in the direction they needed to go and they started walking through the dense forest. Strange plants intermixed with familiar looking ones and weird looking bugs crawled under foot.

Normally this sort of adventure of just up Fred's alley, but he was too worried and upset to take much notice. Fina may have been able to transform into different animals but she had no healing powers or immortality. And he had seen what the Tenebrosi could do. Fina was the love of his life and it killed him that he couldn't protect her. And it infuriated him that Joe could order her into dangerous situations whenever he wanted.

"Hey," San-Li said softly, laying a hand on his arm. "Fina's going to be alright. She's a lot tougher than you think."

"But she isn't immortal anymore." Fred ran his fingers through his hair. "Something could happen to her now."

"She's done things like this before, Fred." She said gently. "And she's very good at what she does."

"But she-"

"There were times when she couldn't heal herself right away. And she was able to handle herself then too."

Fred sighed. "But she isn't like you San-Li. Fina doesn't have cool fighting skills or blood lust like you do."

"Fred, listen to me." San-Li squeezed his arm. "We will find Fina, but I'm telling you that she can handle herself in tough situations."

Wordlessly, Fred laid his hand on top of hers and gave it a soft squeeze. He noticed Sam watching them though and quickly snatched his hand away. Sam kept giving him a weird look though so he walked a little away from San-Li.

"So," Sam said after a while. "How are Sammy and Keiko, San-Li?"

"Alright." San-Li shrugged. "Growing well, feeding well, normal baby stuff."

"And are you getting enough help with raising them?" He said casting another look at Fred.

San-Li stopped walking and frowned at him. "Just what are you really asking me Sam?"

"I'm not asking you anything." Sam stopped walking as well. "I just want to make sure that my girlfriend and children are alright."

"Well we are alright. I'm more than capable of taking care of them and myself."

Fred could hear an argument brewing and walked a little faster. He didn't have time to try and settle any dispute between them. That was their business. He was focused on getting his own girlfriend back.

"Fred wait, don't go too far!" San-Li called. "We don't know what kind of creatures are on this island."

"I'm not afraid of some stupid fire birds." Fred kept walking. "Besides, I want to keep moving. The faster we move the quicker we get to Fina."

There was a sudden rustling over head though and he froze. San-Li and Sam caught up with him and San-Li drew her sword. The rustling came again and several bugs ran across their path.

"Don't move." San-Li whispered. "Look around carefully for any movement so we can be ready to run if we need to."

They all went rigid and looked around them. The rustling stopped and started from several directions. And then stopped altogether. Fred relaxed again and was just about to start moving again when something touched his shoulder. He reached his hand up to touch it and found something sticky.

"Ugh, gross." He whispered.

"AHHH!" Sam screamed and was suddenly lifted up into the air.

"SAM!"

In the next instant Fred himself being jerked into the air by his shoulder then came to a sudden stop mid air. The sticky substance on his shoulder spread across his chest and he found himself suspended in the air by sticky webbing. He looked over and saw Sam next to him, struggling as well.

"San-Li get us down from here!" Fred yelled.

"Um, give me a sec." San-Li looked wildly around. "I'll trying to find a way up and cut you down, just stop struggling or you'll attract something."

"Attract something like what?" Fred yelled.

"Like that!?" Sam screamed.

Fred turned towards the trees and saw a twisted shapes unfurl itself to form a large, green and brown spider with a large snout. He screamed and it shot the sticky substance at his face covering everything but one of his eyes. He panicked when he realized it was covering his mouth and nose making him unable to breathe.

"Fre-" Sam's voice was cut off probably in the same way.

The spider started to come towards them. The head with the snout flipped back revealing a second darker colored head with sharp fangs. Fred chest was starting to spasm from lack of oxygen and his head was pounding. A sword shot through the air from the ground and cut one of the spiders legs off. It hissed in pain then flipped its snout head back down again and shot the sticky goo towards the ground. Fred heard San-Li cry out and a thud as she must have hit a tree or something.

The spider thing then flipped its head back again and started hobbling forward with its fangs wide. Fred let loose a muffled scream and struggled to breathe through the substance. But just before the spider reached him, a bright blue streak of light shot up in front of him. The spider flipped its snout head down and started shooting the sticky stuff at something Fred couldn't see. The blue streak shot down and suddenly the spider split in two and fell off the web.

Fred was starting to fade from lack of oxygen when the blue streak came again and a blond haired, green eyed girl a couple years younger than him came into his vision.

"Don't worry, dude." She smiled at him. "We'll get you out of here."


	6. Chapter 6

Joe was at his wits end with worry and agitation. They had landed in the river which probably save them from having their bones broken, but Anna had been knocked unconscious. Joe had to fight the current trying to pull her out of his grip and carry them both to shore. At first he was afraid Anna had been under too long, but he was thankfully able to revive her.

Once Anna came back to consciousness he had to deal with Mr. Beauchene spouting off about how incompetent he was and why couldn't he block the fiery birds and on and on. Even now, an hour later while they were walking towards where he thought the castle was, Joleena's father was still going on about how much Joe messed things up.

"And I swear Joseph, if anything happens to my daughter-"

"Mr. Beauchene please," Anna cut him off. "We're doing everything we can. My great grand niece and a very close friend of ours was taken as well as Joleena."

Joe laid a grateful hand on his sister's shoulder. He felt close to snapping at him and he was pretty sure that was not in his best interest. If they wanted to save the girls they were going to have to work together.

"That may be," Mr. Beauchene was saying. "And I understand your concern being her student and all, but I'm having my doubts about your brother. There are just some things he doesn't know about Joleena-"

"Are you sure about that?" Joe mumbled with a small smirk. "Because I think I know her a lot better than you think."

"What!?"

Anna shot him a look and Joe knew he probably should apologize but Joleena's father had already pissed him off to no end. So he turned to him with a small smile.

"Let's just say..." His smile grew a little. "Joleena and I spend _a lot_ of time together."

Mr. Beauchene thrust his hand out and Joe was hit with a blow of magic that slammed his back against a tree. Before he could react Joleena's father then pinned him to the tree with his forearm and leaned close to him. But what surprised Joe was that behind Mr. Beauchene's angry expression he could have sworn he saw fear in his eyes.

"Joseph, listen to me closely." Mr. Beauchene said in a low voice. "Just how much do you know about my daughter?"

"Um, guys..." Anna said quietly.

"Joleena and I are very close and we love each other very much." Joe said seriously. "And I will stop at nothing to save her just like you."

"Guys..."

"But you said you know her better than I know," Mr. Beauchene was still staring at him. "What exactly do you know?"

"Guuuys!" Anna screamed.

Joe and Mr. Beauchene looked up to see a large blue and white creature looming over them as tall as the trees around them. It stared down at them with one large, green eye and leaned on it's massive forearms. Mr. Beauchene gasped and dropped Joe. Anna ran over to Joe and clung to his side in fear.

"What is that?" Joe hissed in fear.

"A massivern." Mr. Beauchene said in a whisper. "But I've never seen one that gargantuan before."

The monster blinked slowly and took a tentative step towards them. Spikes appears on its head and started to tremble.

"What do we do?" Anna whispered. "Should we run or wait for it to leave?"

At the sound of her voice the monster turned towards Anna and it's spikes began to turn red. Anna stared back and a red ring appeared in her eyes. It made another small step towards her and began began to lift one of its long forearms and Anna began to move towards it as if in a trance.

"Anna, what are you doing!?" Joe hissed grabbing her arm.

Anna just kept staring as if in a trance and kept trying to move towards the monster as it's spikes turned redder.

"I suggest you turn your head."

Joe turned and saw a man about a decade older than him step out of the forest behind them. The man was tall with golden, honey hair and bright hazel eyes. His long hair was pulled back into a pony tail and he was wearing a tattered brown cloak.

"Please," the man insisted. "Trust me on this. Have the young lady turn her head away."

Joe covered Anna's eyes and turned her face into his shoulder. The massivern instantly stopped coming forward and it's red spikes disappeared. It blinked slowly once or twice and them finally moved away, disappearing among the trees.

"Wha-" Anna started as if waking up. "What happened?"

"Massiverns are attracted to female humans." the mysterious man explained. "It tends to hypnotize them in order to take them to their nest and eats them. If you don't make eye contact or speak however, it looses sight and memory of you and goes on it why."

"Yes, I thought I remember reading about that." Mr. Beauchene looked at him. "Just who are you?"

"A friend." The man smiled. "And a magician who wants to take down the Tenebrosi Sanction just as much as you all do."

* * *

Sam waited impatiently as a boy a couple of years younger than him struggled to cut the sticky webbing he was trapped in. The boy had brown curly hair and dark brown eyes and was wearing a black jumpsuit that matched the one the blond girl was wearing. The boy was using a small pen knife and spray to try and cut the webbing off Sam's mouth.

"Sorry this is taking so long." The boy mumbled. "But this stuff is tricky and I'm trying not to cut your face. At least you ended up better than your friend. His nose and his mouth got covered."

Sam cast a worried look towards Fred and saw that the blond girl had just managed to cut away some of the webbing from his nose. He then looked towards San-Li who still stuck to a tree. She was looking suspiciously between the girl and the guy.

"Good thing we got here in time." The blond girl started to cut the webbing from Fred's mouth.

"Got it!" The guy said triumphantly as the webbing on Sam's mouth finally fell off. "Getting this mess off your body will be much easier."

"Thanks for helping us, but who are you guys?" Sam asked.

"Time Agents." The blond girl smiled brightly. "We were sent to help you guys."

"Which was supposed to be classified." The boy shot her a look.

"Oh relax," She rolled her eyes. "It's not that big of a deal."

"We have our orders." The boy mumbled.

When Sam was finally cut free he instantly ran over to San-Li and cradled her face in his hands.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked urgently. "Are you hurt in anyway?"

"Just my pride." She mumbled. "I can't believe I missed. I never miss."

Sam smiled and kissed her nose. "You're out of practice, sweetheart that's all."

San-Li rolled her eyes and peered over his shoulder. "Who the hell are they?"

"The girl says that they're Time Agents, they didn't give any names."

"Um, hi," the boy came towards them slowly with a small smile. "Um, do you mind if I cut you free now?"

San-Li gave him a suspicious look but nodded. The boy gave her another small smile and began spraying and cutting the webbing off her body. The girl finished cutting Fred out of his webbing and they came over to them.

"Wow, that thing sure did a number on you." The girl smirked at San-Li. "What's the matter? Didn't know how to duck?"

San-Li shot her a heated glare and the boy gave her warning look.

"Wow, you're kinda rude." Fred mumbled.

"Sorry my... associate gets kind of weird with new people." The boy mumbled.

"And by associate, don't you mean sister?" San-Li continued to glare at the girl. "Never mind your different hair and eye color, your face shape, eye shape, and skin tone are too much alike to be coincidental."

The boy looked impressed. "Wow. You're right. That's amazing!"

"Lucky guess." The girl mumbled.

"Why don't you do me a favor kid and go fetch my sword for me?" San-Li sneered at her.

The girl clenched her fist but the boy shot her a look. The girl scoffed and leaned down to press a button on the side of her shoe. The metal plates appeared at the bottom of the shoes and bright blue lights shot out from them, propelling the girl upwards and she flew off in search of San-Li's sword.

She came back a few minutes later with San-Li's sword just as the boy finish cutting San-Li free from the webbing. San-Li teleported in front of the girl and snatched the sword from her.

"You're welcome." The girl said sarcastically.

In the next instant San-Li grabbed the girl's arm, twisted it behind her neck in on motion and held the sword against her neck.

"No don't!" The boy yelled panicky.

"Are you two ready to tell us your names now, or do I have to start cutting off heads?" San-Li smiled dangerously. "I do so hate being jerked around."

"San-Li what are you doing!?" Sam took a step towards her. "They just saved out lives remember?"

"She's bluffing." The blond said though gritted teeth.

"I told you we're Time Agents sent to help you guys!" The boy stared at San-Li with wide eyes full of fear. "My name's is... Thomas and her name is Nicki. We're Time Agent's I swear!"

"Oh yeah?" San-Li raised an eyebrow. "Show me your badge."

"Okay, okay. Just please don't hurt my sister." Thomas slowly reached into the front pocket of his jump suit and pulled out a holographic badge.

San-Li looked at it closely and frowned. She pushed Nicki away from her and re sheathed her sword. Nicki shot her a glare and went over to stand by Thomas's side.

"Are we done here? Because I thought you had some friends to rescue?" She growled.

"What my sister means," Thomas said quickly. "Is that we know the best way to get to your friends. We know a way through this forests so that we can avoid more creatures like that weird spider thing that attacked you."

"Alright," San-Li nodded. "Lead the way."

Nicki still looked like she wanted to beat the crap out of San-Li but Thomas grabbed her arm and started to lead them through the forest. Fred, Sam, San-Li followed them but hung back a little.

"What the heck was that about, San-Li?" Fred whispered to her. "They save our lives and you pull a sword on her?"

"Yeah, a little hostile don't you think?" Sam added.

"Something's off about those two." San-Li mumbled. "They claim to be Time Agents and Thomas has a seemingly legit badge, but that's definitely not Time Agent uniforms they're wearing."

Sam and Fred exchanged wary glances. "So what does that mean?"

"It means they could be part of the Tenebrosi," San-Li said. "And leading are us into a trap."

Sam cast another look at Thomas and Nicki and found that Nicki was smiling over her shoulder at him. Her smile grew when Sam made eye contact and he tentatively smiled back at her. Once glance at San-Li's scowling face though and he quickly stopped smiling and looked away.

"If you don't trust them when why are we following them?" Fred asked.

"Like you said they saved our lives." San-Li flashed him a smile. "Why not use them while we can?"


	7. Chapter 7

Joleena's whole world revolved around excruciating, unbearable pain and waking nightmares. She didn't know how much time was passing by. It could have been hours. It could have been days. It could have been weeks. Joleena didn't see any sun light or moon light.

The man and the woman would drag her kicking and fighting out of her cell and strap her down so that they could perform the ritual on her. After suffering the unbearable agony of the dark magic tearing through her body and soul, they would drag her back to cell. They fed her irregularly but she could hardly keep anything down.

They didn't let her sleep but that didn't stop the nightmares. They had to be nightmares. The same staircase and the same body, broken and bleeding at the bottom. All in such clear details. And the feelings that came with it. Triumph. But they had to be nightmares. It all felt so horrible.

"Stop it." Joleena whispered clutching her head. "Joseph. Daddy. Make them stop."

Her fingers tangled in her hair and she gave a sharp yank, causing pain to shoot all throughout her scalp. The pain distracted her for a moment so she yanked harder.

"Don't you think you're in enough pain already?" Antonia sneered.

Joleena went rigid and warm tears slid down her face. "Leave me alone."

"I'm sorry Miss Beauchene but we must follow orders." The woman said.

"So if you'll please come with us now." The man said.

Joleena began to shake uncontrollably as she felt their familiar shadow magic began to take hold of her.

"Stop it." She whispered hoarsely.

"We're sorry Miss Beauchene but orders are orders."

They lifted Joleena off of the bed and started to drag her towards the glass wall. Joleena began to hyperventilate and felt something stir within her.

"LET GO OF ME!"

A surge of energy that she had never felt before exploded out of her. The force of her magic not only completely disintegrated their shadow magic, it also shattered the glass wall and knocked all three off them backwards.

Joleena dropped to her feet and stood staring in shock. She prided herself on being an accomplished magician but never before had she felt such power within her. And she could still feel it brewing just under the surface of her skin. She met Antonia's surprised eyes and took off at a run.

"After her!" She heard Antonia scream behind her.

Joleena could feel her knees already getting weak but she forced herself to keep running. But as she turned the corner she felt burning magic blast her in the back and she slammed into the stone wall. Her head banged against the stone and she felt warm blood run down her temple. She struggled to get back on her feet but then more dark magic circled around her and she collapsed.

* * *

"This place is so huge." Fina muttered as they walked along the stone passage. "I feel like we've been walking for hours."

"I feel like we've walking for days." Jodie grumbled. "I wish I hadn't worn my second favorite heels."

Fina sighed. "I wish I could have gotten you out of here safely first, but Joleena was taken a few days before I was. I don't want to leave her here any longer than she has to be."

"No, no I want to help." Jodie said quietly. "Joleena seems really nice and Joe is crazy about her."

They walked in silence for a while, moving slowly so that their footsteps wouldn't echo on one stone floor. Fina kept her senses on high alert. Listening for any noise and trying to detect any bit of magic that wasn't dark magic.

"Wait." Fina stopped suddenly and turned to Jodie. "Did you feel that?"

Jodie shook her head but Fina knew that she felt it. A sudden powerful surge of pure magic that definitely wasn't dark. She sensed it coming from a corridor on the left and headed that way with Jodie following close behind. They walked until they came to a vent in the wall. Fina knelt down and used her claws to unscrew the vent and crawled inside.

"Ugh, it's so dusty in here." Jodie whispered.

"Joleena's close." Fina whispered. "I can sense her magic but I can also sense something else. Something... really bad. We have to hurry."

After a few minutes they came to another vent on the side where a faint light was coming through. They peered through it and saw that they were above a large room with dark magic symbols drawn onto the floor in a circular pattern with a bed at the center. Over a dozen mages in dark cloaks and guards in Tenebrosi uniforms stood waiting.

Fina eyed the mystical symbols and could feel her nails start to extend into claws and the hair of her neck began to stand up. Rage. Ferocious dark rage. She could feel it just under the surface of her mind. Two tribal men with spears laying dead at her feet.

"Fina!" Jodie jostled her shoulder. "Fina are you alright?"

Fina blinked and forced herself to look away. "Jodie, whatever you do, don't look at those symbols on the floor."

"Why? What's wrong?"

Fina took a shuddering breath. "Just don't. They're bad. They do bad things."

Suddenly, she felt another rush of powerful magic and the sound of screaming. They both looked through the vent again and saw Antonia and the man and woman who kidnapped them dragging in a kicking and screaming Joleena. They had chains made out of dark magic around her body, but her magic was still flaring out in all directions.

"Hurry up and strap her to the bed." Antonia yelled with a busted lip. "We must have under estimated the exact amount of her magic, but we only have one more session to go!"

"We have to get down there!" Jodie whispered urgently.

Fina looked around the room quickly and tried to think of something. "Okay... I think I have a plan."

* * *

Joleena fought against the straps and could have sworn she felt them give a little, but she could still feel her energy quickly fading. The man and the woman stepped back out of her sight and she heard the chanting begin. Her breath came in quick gasps and she could feel panic begin to grip her.

There was a sudden crash and the chanting stopped. The people around her looked around in confusion. Another louder crash came and she heard the large wooden door being slammed opened. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a large white elephant charge into the room. The dark mages and guards all rushed to try and subdue it, leaving Joleena by herself.

From the other side of her, another person slowly approached her making her jump.

"Shh, it's me." Jodie whispered. "I'm here to free."

Tears of relief stung Joleena's eyes and Jodie quickly started to cut the straps holding her. As soon as she was freed, she the ground and collapsed onto her knees. As soon as Fina saw that she was free, she transformed into a bird and flew over to her and Jodie.

"Joleena are you alright?" Fina asked looking at her closely. "We can't fight all of these people off. Do you think you can teleport?"

Before Joleena could answer she saw several blasts of dark magic heading towards them. Without even thinking about it Joleena felt herself manifest a shield to protect them. The shield easily deflected the blast and they impacted with the ceiling and walls around them. Her eyes met Antonia's and she saw a mixture of rage and fear in her expression.

Joleena turned to Fina with a small smile. "I think I can handle it."

She closed her eyes and felt a powerful surge of her magic unfurl out of her, surrounding all of three of them and teleported them out of there, leaving a dent in the floor.


	8. Chapter 8

As it turns out they had landed somewhere on the side of one of the mountains which was why they were attacked by that weird spider like thing. Sam had almost fallen off the side of a precipice before they realized it. Nicki had to swoop down with her rocket shoes to save him.

But she had held on to him for just a little too long for San-Li's taste and now she sat glaring at her from across the fire. The sun had gone down a while ago and they were all up in one of the caves to wait the night out. San-Li sat between Fred and Thomas on one side of the fire and Sam and Nicki sat on the other side. Nicki shot her a smug smile and leaned against Sam's arm. He met San-Li's heated glare and shrugged helplessly.

"Do we really have to stay here all night?" Fred asked impatiently. "Who knows what they could be doing to Fina?"

"We told you, these mountains are much more dangerous at night." Thomas explained. "Those spider things are nearly invisible and their webbing becomes slightly acidic."

"So we just hide in this cave all night?" Fred huffed in irritation.

"Didn't I tell you not to worry?" San-Li rubbed his shoulder. "Fina can handle herself."

San-Li glanced up to see Sam watching her again. She sighed inwardly and took her hand off Fred's shoulder. It was so stupid how easily jealous Sam could get. Fred was his best friend for goodness sake.

"So Sam," Nicki smiled brightly. "You seem like a really, really smart guy. Are you a scientist or something?"

"Sorta." Sam shrugged. "I'm majoring in Engineering at MIT. I also do a bit of inventing in my spare time."

"Really? That sounds so cool! Can you tell me more about it?" Nicki threaded her arms through his and smiled eagerly.

Sam flushed in embarrassment but he returned her smile. San-Li felt her nails dig into her arms as Sam happily went on and on about what he was doing in college and his inventions. Nicki listened attentively and kept smiling at him with big doe eyes.

"Wow, you're so interesting Sam." Nicki gushed. "I could definitely listen to you talk all day."

"Really!?" San-Li jumped up and glared at Nicki. "You do realize his girlfriend is sitting right here right?"

"So?" Nicki rolled her eyes. "He can talk to whoever he wants. Its a free country you know."

San-Li pulled out her sword and pointed it directly at her. "You wanna bet?"

Nicki smirked and held out her wrist revealing a small red stone on each wrist.

"Nicki," Thomas whined, nudging her shoulder. "Don't..."

She ignored him and flicked her wrists and twin swords appeared in her hands. "Is that a challenge old lady?"

"Why you little-" San-Li was ready to lunge over the fire at her but Fred held her back.

"Don't Li, it's not worth it." Fred said with his mouth close to her ear. "She's egging you on on purpose."

But Sam eyed Fred and frowned. "Since when do you call her Li?"

"Now who's over reacting?" He mumbled but he quickly backed off of San-Li.

Sam gave her a hard look. "San-Li can I talk to you for a minute?"

San-Li and Nicki stared each other down for a moment before they put their swords away at the same time. Sam gave San-Li another looked and they left walked deeper in the cave until they were out of ear shot of the others.

"What was that about?" Sam whispered angrily.

"Didn't you see that she had on her wrists?!" San-Li whispered back just as angrily. "Those are identical to the stone that I have. Which, I must remind you, I got from the black market."

"That doesn't matter. What I'm concerned about is the fact that you get all jealous when I talk to another girl but you being so close to Fred isn't a big deal!"

"Wha-" San-Li's jaw dropped and she blinked at him in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Sam folded his arms. "If there's something you need to tell me, you need to tell me right now."

"How many times do I have to tell you that there's nothing going on between Fred and me?" San-Li sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, Fred's your best friend, you know he wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Nicki on the other hand is someone we just met. Ever wonder why she's so nice to you? And she just met you?"

Sam stared at her for a long minute before answering. "You were nice to me when you first met me."

San-Li blinked and looked away. "That was different."

"How?" Sam took a step closer to her. "How is Nicki being nice to me different? Especially since I- we actually knew you were pretty... messed up."

San-Li bit her lip and took a step back. "I told you that was different. I was messed up back then remember?"

"You were also a master manipulator." Sam took another step towards her. "Why is it that you're so suspicious of Nicki for doing just about the same thing you were doing to me?"

San-Li went silent and found that she couldn't speak. She had a lie ready but couldn't make her mouth move. Sam was watching her carefully, his expression almost unreadable.

"Because..." She took a deep breath. "Because I was manipulating you when we first... started dating."

"What!?" Sam's voice went up an octave and he grabbed her arm. "For how long San-Li?"

"About three months." San-Li smiled and reached up to touch his face. "But I swear after that it became real for me. Everything after that became real for me."

"Did it?" Sam's eyes hardened. "Or did it become real when you found out you were pregnant?"

San-Li's eyes went wide and started to brim with tears. Sam's eyes softened, but he looked away with an angry huff.

"Nevermind." He muttered walking away. "Forget I said anything."

* * *

"So tell me," Mr. Beauchene asked the magician. "What exactly is your discipline in the magic arts?"

"I do a little bit of everything." He shrugged casually. "But I mostly do time travel and spellology."

"Spellology? What's that?" Anna asked curiously.

The magician gave her a charming smile. "Study of spell casting. Like it's origins, meanings, effects. All that stuff."

"Cool." Anna grinned. "I'm studying a little spell casting, but I'm mostly studying divination. Joleena...taught me a lot."

Everyone got quiet and Joe stared into the fire anxiously. He had wanted to keep moving until they rescued Joleena, no matter how long it took, but the magician warned them that the forest was a lot more dangerous at night. The fire they were sitting around was warm but Joe still felt cold. Not only was Joleena was in the Tenebrosi's clutches, but so were his great grand daughter and one of his best friends. He felt Fina's presence in his mind and it made him feel...empty.

 _Joe... can you hear me...?_

"Fina!?" Joe shot up and looked wildly around them. _Fina! Is that you!?_

 _Joe! Thank goodness you're alright. I did it, sir. I got Joleena and Jodie out._

Joe smiled and tears of relief filled his eyes. _That's my girl. Now tell me where you are._

 **A/N- Lol, there's still a lot more story left so don't go anywhere. Remember to review please**


	9. Chapter 9

_It was her old house. The one she grew up in before she went away to school. She recognized the hallway now as the one that lead to her mom's sitting room. She couldn't see the man's face but she knew that he was afraid of her. All it took was a flash of her magic and the man went reeling with another scream. He screamed all the way down the stairs. Arms and legs failing. Head and body bouncing along the steps. He landed on the marble floor with a dull thump and remained still._

 _Joleena looked down on him and her lips curled up into a smile._

"Joleena!"

Joleena jumped and looked up to see Jodie staring at her. They were sitting next to each other waiting for Fina to come back. The three of them had landed somewhere in the mountains and Fina had flown off to get an aerial view of where they were.

Jodie had a hand on her shoulder and was peering closely at her face. "Miss Joleena, are you okay? You were kinda staring off into space."

"Um," Joleena shook her head to clear the images from her head and smiled at her. " _Oui. Je suis bien,"_

"Hey, I speak French too." Jodie smiled. "Well, everyone in the 2100s does. French, Spanish, and English are kinda the standard language."

Joleena nodded and they fell silent again. Jodie was fiddling with her hair nervously and Joleena couldn't help but smile. She looked a lot like Joe and had a similar spirit. Thinking of Joe brought tears to Joleena's eyes. Even now, out in the open and away from Tenebrosi's dark magic, her nerves still felt raw and jagged. She couldn't stop raking her nails up and down her arms. The pain helped to distract her.

"I apologize that you had to get involve in all this." Joleena said softly. "They didn't hurt you did they?"

Jodie shook her head. "Fina helped us escape before anything could happen."

"That's good." Joleena wrapped her arms around herself. "And please, just call me Joleena. The Miss is too formal."

"Okay... Joleena it is." Jodie giggled. "It's so cool being able to talk to you. You're like, one of my favorite female magicians of all time."

" _Merci Beaucoup."_ Joleena smiled.

She would have killed for a cigarette right about now. Ever since Paris when Joe had made her feel so happy and in love, Joleena had completely given up smoking. But now it felt like every inch of her skin was vibrating and it was beginning to feel painful.

"Um, Joleena..."

Joleena blinked and realized that the pebbles and rocks around them were glowing purple and levitating off the ground. She made an effort to calm herself down and the rocks and pebbled fell back down.

"Sorry." Joleena whispered. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Jodie hesitated and laid a hand on her arm. "I'm sure you'll be fine. What matters is that we got you out before they could finish... whatever they were doing."

Joleena didn't answer and raked her fingers through the dirt. She felt like she could feel the very earth shifting underneath her finger tips and maybe even the very shape of the island itself. Several shapes were moving around the island. She wondered vaguely if one of those shapes were Joe.

"Fina's back." Joleena whispered.

A white bird wheeled down from the sky and transformed into Fina. Her hair was completely messy, her skirt and blouse were torn, and she was covered with scratches and bruises from her fight with the Tenebrosi.

"I got a good view of the island and I spoke to Joe." She said with a smile of relief. "Instead of waiting around here we're going to meet him a few miles from here. Are you two okay to walk or would you like to ride on me?"

"Um, I think we can walk." Jodie stood up and looked at Joleena. "Will you be alright?"

Joleena glanced up at her and felt a flash of anger at her stupid, pitying glance. She wondered if she snapped her legs in two would she be able to walk. Three saplings suddenly snapped and Fina and Jodie whirled around in surprise.

"What was that?" Fina asked.

"Um, I'm sure it was nothing." Joleena jumped up and smiled brightly. "Come on, let's find Joe."

* * *

Fred, Sam, and San-Li were still in the cave when the sun rose. Nicki and Thomas went out to see if they could find something for them to eat leaving the three of them by themselves. For once Fred intuitive enough to sense that they needed some space and went off to the back of the cave somewhere. San-Li sat next to Sam but he was staring at the floor with a distant look in his eyes.

"Are you really doing this Sam?" San-Li said quietly. "Please talk to me."

Sam sighed. "I don't know what to say. I feel like I can't trust you."

"Of course you can trust me. Why do you think I told you the truth?"

"I don't know. You're good at manipulation remember?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" San-Li huffed in frustration. "Yes, I started out just using you, but after that I really did fall in love with you dana-sama."

At the use of her pet name for him, the corners of Sam's mouth turned up in a small smile. He turned and looked at San-Li, but his eyes were sad.

"I want to believe you, but-"

"Then just believe me. Whatever my intentions were then, please believe that I love you now. And I always will." San-Li whispered urgently.

Sam looked at her a long moment before slowly leaning in to kiss her on the lips.

"I hope we aren't interrupting something." Nicki said brightly entering the cave with her brother.

Thomas shot her a look and turned to San-Li with an apologetic shrug. "Sorry, but we found some fruit to eat. Hope you're hungry."

"I was." San-Li mumbled.

"Thanks you two." Sam smiled at them.

He then took San-Li by surprise by wrapping an arm around her shoulders and captured her lips in a firm kiss. San-Li kissed him back eagerly, really, really wishing that the so called "Time Agents" weren't there so that she could take Sam somewhere private and-

"Ew gross." Nicki muttered. "You think they're gonna start making out?"

Sam broke away from San-Li with an embarrassed blush and chuckled. "Well she is my girlfriend, Nicki. I kind of have that right."

"Yeah, Nicki." San-Li smirked. "So why don't you be a good girl and go get Fred?"

Nicki glared at her, but when Thomas nudged her arm she stood up with a huff fine. The three of them sat around picking at the fruit and they heard Fred going on to Nicki about some really cool stone he found or something. But then there was a soft rumble and Fred and Nicki came running towards them.

"Um guys," Fred called. "We need to run. Now."

Before they could ask why a large, towering beast with stripped fur, long forearms and clawed paws came running towards them.

"It's a cirmec!" Thomas yelled. "Run!"

The booked it out of the cave and headed down the side of the mountain where they came. The cirmec gave an irritable huff and went back into its lair.

"We- have to- go back." Fred huffed. "There was- this really- cool diamond thing-"

"Maybe some other time." Thomas panted. "Come on, let's go find your friends."


	10. Chapter 10

Fred was still babbling on about some diamond he found when Sam felt San-Li touch his elbow. She gestured for him to walk slower and they drifted towards the back of the group.

"Okay, so I know I sound like a jealous girlfriend, but hear me out." San-Li whispered. "There is something definitely off about Nicki and that brother of hers."

"San-Li, please. Not again." Sam sighed. "We just made up from our last fight."

"Exactly. A pretty big fight which started because she was deliberately flirting with you."

Sam gave her a weird look. "I'm not following."

San-Li glanced up and noticed Nicki was looking at them over her shoulder. She flashed them smile before turning back around. She whispered something to Thomas who turned to look at them as well before whispering something back.

San-Li lowered her voice even more. "Okay, not that I don't think you aren't amazing or cute enough to get attention from another girl, but don't you think its weird that she'd flirt with you directly in front of me?"

"Maybe." Sam shrugged. "Or maybe she wasn't flirting. Maybe she's just friendly."

"Or maybe she planned on us getting in a fight." San-Li nudged his arm. "Like you said before, when we first met I was super nice to you because I was manipulating you. What if she's manipulating us too?"

"She was awfully rude to you when we first met." Sam mused. "But what would be the point of us fighting? What does that get them?"

"Divide and conquer." San-Li muttered. "If we're too busy fighting each other-"

"-then we can't fight the Tenebrosi Sanction." Sam finished.

* * *

Fina cast a wary glance at Joleena as Jodie happily chattered on to her. Joleena was smiling at Jodie and nodded politely every so often, but she had her arms folded across her chest as if she was cold. And her eyes kept shifting everywhere as if she was afraid of something. Fina wanted to ask if she was okay, but thought better of it. She couldn't quite explain it, but something felt... off about her.

 _Fina, can you here me?_ Joe's voice said in her head.

 _One second sir._

"Hey guys," Fina turned to the others. "I'm going to fly up a little to hear Joe's voice more clearly. I'll be right back."

"Alright." Joleena said faintly. "We'll wait here for you."

Fina nodded and flew up into the high branches of a tree. _Joe? Can you hear me, sir?_

 _Yeah. Is Joleena okay? How close are you guys?_ Joe's voice was laced with worry.

 _You're voice is a bit faint but I think we're starting to get closer to each other and we can meet at the clearing I saw._ Fina answered. _Are you close to the mountains yet?_

 _Climbing it now. But what about Joleena? Is she alright? Is she hurt?_

 _Joleena is..._ Fina ruffled her feathers to clear her head. _They weren't able to finish but they did something to her. Her magic is stronger and I think it might be hurting her. She's also going though mild shock._

 _I'll kill those sons of-_

 _Joe please calm down. Joleena's going to need love and support not someone ready to take down an army._

Joe was silent for a moment before answering. _Alright. Just... please get her to me as soon as you can and keep her safe. And thanks again Fina._

 _Yes sir._

Fina flew back down to where Joleena and Jodie were waiting. Jodie was still clamoring on to Joleena and Fina could feel the irritation coming off Joleena in waves.

"Miss Joleena," She said softly. "Would you like to take a break and rest?"

Joleena glanced at her and Fina could see a flash of rage in her eyes. " _Non_ , why would you ask?"

"No reason." Fina lifted her hands in defense. "I was just making sure that you were alright."

"Of course I am alright! Why would I not be alright!?" Joleena snapped.

"Whoa, take it easy." Jodie gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "She's just trying to make sure you're okay-"

Joleena's glare shifted towards her. A purple glow came over Jodie's hand and jerk it off of Joleena's shoulder, hoisting her into the air. Jodie and Fina stared at Joleena in terror until her glare softened. Joleena dropped her eyes and slowly lowered Jodie back down to the ground.

"Sorry." Joleena muttered. "I'm a bit on edge."

"Understandable." Jodie gave her a shaky smile. "You've been through a lot."

"Yeah." Joleena pressed her lips together and started walking. "Let's just keep going. Joe will be worried sick over me."

Fina and Jodie exchanged a look and followed after her. Joleena walked with her head down and her nails were raking up and down her arms. Several stones shifted out of her path.

"I didn't mean to make her upset." Jodie whispered. "I was just trying to help."

Fina sighed and shook her head. "I think Joleena's just dealing with a lot right now. We should just give her some space until we find Joe."

They walked for a while and eventually the stones around Joleena's feet stopped moving. Fina felt her magic return to more normal levels and she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe if Joleena saw Joe she would feel better.

Thinking of what happened to Joleena made Fina shudder. Even from that one glance Fina could still feel the magic of the dark residue. It felt horrible. A burning, sticky darkness in her mind. And Joleena had been blasted with it for who knows how long.

Joleena stopped suddenly and looked up. "Something's coming right for us."

Fina moved out in front of her. "Stay back. Best if handle this."

She transformed into a lioness and crouched low to the ground. She reached out her senses and found that Joe was getting closer but who ever it was in front of them wasn't him. There were now on the side of the mountain were there were less trees and more boulders. The path curved ahead of them, wrapping around a boulder that obscured their view around the corner.

Fina signaled for Jodie and Joleena to stay back with a look and crept forward. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she heard the shuffling of feet. Human feet. And from the sound of it there was more than one. Just as a figure rounded around the corner Fina let loose a roar and pounced. The figure screamed as she tackled him to the ground but then when she saw who it was she blinked in surprise and changed back into her human form.

"Fina?" Fred broke out into a huge smile and wrapped his arms around her, crushing her to his chest. "Oh my gosh! I'm so glad I finally found you."

"Fred?" Fina pushed away from him and looked at him in confusion. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Well duh, I'm here to rescue you. We just got separated from Joe, that's all."

She looked behind him and saw Sam and San-Li as well as two teens she had never seen before. They all moved to a clearing off the path to wait for where Joe would meet them. Fred pulled her off to the side and hugged her tightly.

"I so worried about you." Fred whispered stroking her hair. "You scared me going off like that without telling me."

Fina cringed, full of guilt. "Sorry, I completely forgot to tell you. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Fina..." Fred sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't you know how dangerous the Tenebrosi are? You could have gotten hurt."

"Fred, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She smiled and touched his cheek. "You didn't have to come all this way to save me."

"Take care of yourself ?" Fred looked at her like she was crazy. "Angel, you can't heal yourself anymore and you aren't immortal. You could get seriously hurt!"

Fina pressed to her lips together to suppress the irritation that was beginning to build. She looked over Fred's shoulder and spotted San-Li watching them. She raised an eyebrow and gestured over to the side, calling for a private conference. Fina gave Fred a quick kiss and went over to talk to her. San-Li whispered something to Sam and walked away from the others as well.

"So," San-Li said when they were out of earshot. "How mad is he?"

"He's more relieved than anything, but he's still kinda irritated." Fina sighed and gestured to the two teens. "Who are they?"

"The blond's Nicki and the boy is her brother Thomas." San-Li frowned at them. "I don't trust them. Too sneaky for my taste."

"Noted." Fina sighed and glanced at Joleena. "Just to give you a heads up. Don't aggravate Joleena. Something happened to her while she was at the Tenebrosi and her temper and her magic are... messed up."

"Duly noted." San-Li nodded. "So what now?"

"We wait for Joe." Fina shrugged. "He should be here any minute now."

There was the sound of rustling from the strip of woods behind them and they both tensed. Fina reached out with her senses though and smiled. Joe stepped out of the trees and smiled in relief when he saw them. Anna stepped out as well shaking leaves out of her hair followed by a tall, burly man who looked a lot like Joleena. But Fina's smile fell when another man stepped out behind them.

Fina instantly recognized his olive skin, golden honey hair, and the kind gleam in his eyes. Her heart rose into her throat and tears stung her eyes.

"Oh my God," Fina whispered. "Nathan."

"Hey Fina," The old Warp Wizard smiled at her warmly. "Long time no see."


	11. Chapter 11

"I just finished talking to Fina and we should be at the clearing soon." Joe said.

"Did you ask about Joleena and Jodie? Are they okay?" Anna asked.

Joe sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorta. Fina said that Joleena's still really raw right now. So when we see her we have to be really careful with her."

"Did your friend say exactly what was wrong with Joleena?" Mr. Beauchene heaved a weary sigh. "There's no telling what they did to her while we were tramping around this forsaken wilderness."

Joe chose to ignore Mr. Beauchene's last comment. "She only said that her magic seemed like it was stronger and might be hurting her. That and she seems... emotional."

"There's a number of dark spells that can do that." The mystery magician mused. "Especially if performed multiple times. Dark spells can also tear through any mind or inhibitor spells unleashing magician's full magic store. Tell me Mr. Beauchene, were there any medical related or mental spells on your daughter?"

Mr. Beauchene set his jaw and looked straight ahead. "That remains my business."

Joe narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything. There was something Mr. Beauchene wasn't telling him. But Joleena and his great granddaughter were his first and only priority. After he made sure they were alright then he could interrogate Joleena's father. But there was also something about this mystery magician that threw him off. He didn't seem bad, but there was just something a little too mysterious about him.

And then, almost as of she was touching him, Joe felt Fina reach out to sense him. He broke into a huge smile and pushed through the rest of the trees. They walked into a rocky clearing and saw Fina and San-Li waiting for him.

Fina smiled when she saw him but when she saw the mystery magician, her smile fell and tears filled her eyes. San-Li's eyes went wide and her lips thinned to a tight line.

"Oh my God," Fina whispered. "Nathan."

"Hey Fina," He smiled at her warmly. "Long time no see."

He then turned to San-Li and his smile grew. "Hey Sony. I missed- AH!."

Nathan's head snapped to the side with the force of San-Li slap. Bloody welts appeared on his cheek and he touched them gingerly. San-Li gave him a heated glare before storming off, heading towards Sam.

"Wow," Nathan chuckled, straightening back up. "I guess I should have expected that from her huh Fina?"

Fina's mouth snapped shut and she slapped him across the face, making his face snap the other way.

"You bastard!" She screamed at him. "I thought you were dead!"

"Fina, I-"

"Save it!" Fina's face was completely flushed with rage and she stormed off.

Nathan sighed and straightened up again. "I didn't expect that from her though."

Joe opened his mouth to say something but before he could a soft voice called his name.

"Joseph?" Joleena stared at him wide eyed, her arms folded over herself. Tears filled her eyes as she stared as him.

"Joleena!"

Joe pushed past Mr. Beauchene and ran towards her. They ran into each others arms and she buried her face in his chest. He stroked her knotted, tangled hair and kissed the top of her head over and over again. He could feel her tears soak through his t shirt.

"I'm so glad you're safe." Joe whispered, tears stinging his own eyes. "I came as soon as I could."

" _Je avais tellement peur."_ Joleena whispered tearfully. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"It's okay, you're safe now." Joe tilted her face up and peppered her face with kisses. "I won't ever leave your side again."

"Ahem."

Joe turned and saw Mr. Beauchene standing next to them. He gently pulled Joleena out of Joe's arms and held her. Joleena stiffened at first but slowly hugged him back.

"Thank goodness you're alright." Her father pulled back to peer at her face. "Are you alright? What exactly happened to you in there?"

Joe frowned. "Hey, maybe we should give her a break before interrogating her."

Mr. Beauchene ignore him and cupped Joleena's face. "Sweetheart, did they say anything to you? What did they tell you?"

"You tell me, daddy." Joleena narrowed her eyes and pulled away from him completely. "What are you and my uncle hiding from me?"

"Joleena-" Mr. Beauchene cast a wary glance at Joe. "Perhaps we can discuss this in private?"

"No!" Joleena snatched herself away from him. "I'm sick of you hiding things from me."

"Joleena, please..."

"No, daddy." Tears began to form in Joleena's eyes and her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm seeing things daddy. Things that scare me. And... I don't think they're nightmares. I saw our old house and-"

"Joleena, enough! We will discuss this later-"

"DON"T TOUCH ME!"

Joleena snatched herself from her father's grip, her eyes completely dark with rage. She quickly turned away and walked off by herself, her nails raking up and down her arms. Joe started to go after her, but Mr. Beauchene put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"What do you want?" Joe glared at him. "Haven't you done enough already."

Mr. Beauchene sighed and his shoulders sagged. "I'm afraid there's something I need to confess."

Mr. Beauchene lead Joe a little ways from the clearing into the forest. Mr. Beauchene heaved a weary sigh and sat down heavily on a fallen log. Joe sat next to him, but kept his eyes on Joleena who was on the other side of the clearing, talking to Anna and Jodie. He was more than worried right now. He had never seen or heard Joleena snap like that, even when she broke up with her old boyfriend.

"Please understand something Joseph," Mr. Beauchene sighed. "No matter what mistakes I have done in the past, I love Joleena very, very much."

"Then what are you hiding from her?" Joe asked. "Whatever it is, it sounds like she's having some nasty nightmares from it."

"I'm afraid those aren't nightmares, Joe." Mr. Beauchene took a deep breath. "They're memories."

Joe went wide eyed as Mr. Beauchene told him everything.

"Joleena was just a child when it happened, no more than nine or ten, so she can't be held responsible for what happened. Her mother and I tried to keep it from her, but we were having... issues with our marriage. We tried to behave civilly in front of our daughter but things escalated to the point where we barely spoke to each other unless Joleena was in the room. She was just beginning to tap into and learn about her magic so she was distracted for a time. Joleena believed we had a perfect family. But then my ex wife Victoria ruined everything!"

Mr. Beauchene clenched his fist and glared at the ground.

"She began having an affair which would have been fine she she didn't bring him to the damn house! That was the deal we made. We could see other people wherever or whenever we wanted as long as we kept our affairs away from our home and our daughter. We were supposed to wait until Joleena was old enough to understand. I don't know how it happened but Joleena found out about her mother's lover."

"Joleena found out that her mom was having an affair?" Joe asked, stunned. "What happened? What did she do?"

"Please understand that Joleena didn't mean to do anything wrong. She was just a child for goodness sake!"

"Mr. Beauchene." Joe grabbed his arm. "What did Joleena do?"

"She arranged for him to have an accident." He sighed and closed his eyes. "She intercepted him at the top of our staircase. Terrified him with her magic so that he fell down the stairs."

Joe's jaw dropped. "Joleena killed him!? She killed someone!?"

Her father shook her head. "No. But his injuries paralyzed him for life and left him mentally disabled as well."

"Maybe it was an accident." Joe licked his dry lips. "M-maybe she just wanted to scare him away?"

"No," Mr. Beauchene shook his head. "She came to me that night and told me that she fixed our family. She was proud of what she had done and she was disappointed when she found out he was alive."

"Oh my gosh." Joe ran his hand over his face. "Does...Joleena know? What did her mother say?"

"Joleena doesn't...didn't know about it. Every year I suppressed her memory of it. It would have traumatized her and she would have felt such guilt over what she had done."

"You used mental spells on her, just like Nathan said. And the Tenebrosi's magic must have broken through it." Joe mumbled. "And what about Joleena's mother?"

Mr. Beauchene sighed and buried his face in his hands. "My ex wife became terrified of our daughter, but my brother Windell and our mother hid things well. We had out name to protect and we couldn't let anyone find out what Joleena did in a moment of poor judgment. My ex wife and I divorced soon after. She avoids Joleena to this day."

"Oh man." Joe sighed. "And now Joleena's remembering it. It must be killing her."

"Please understand that I love my daughter and I never wanted to put her through this pain." Mr. Beauchene said tearfully.

"But she is in pain." Joe glared at him. "She's traumatized and in shock and Fina said that her magic is hurting her."

"I have to talk to her." Mr. Beauchene stood up. "I have to explain things to her."

"Better let me do it." Joe sighed and stood up as well. "I doubt she wants to hear anything from you right now."

Joe went back into the clearing and went to where Joleena, Jodie, and Anna were. He pulled Joleena away and they walked into the woods together away from everyone else. It was beginning to get dark but Joe wanted to get as far away from the others as possible.

Joleena practically clung to his side and he caressed her side fondly. They sat down and he took a deep breath before telling her everything.

"What!?" Joleena jumped up and stared at him, tears streaming down her face. Several rocks exploded in bright purple flashes.

"Joleena, I'm so sorry." Joe stood up and placed his hands on her shoulders. "But you were just a kid. You thought you were doing good."

"No, no I remember now." Joleena shook her head. "I remember seeing his body. I felt...triumph. Oh God, I feel sick."

Her knees buckled and Joe gently helped her to the ground. He rocked her in his arms as she cried and stroked her hair.

 _Joe?_ He heard Fina's voice in his head. _Where are you? Where's Joleena?_

 _Hey Fina, go ahead and set up camp for the night._ Joe responded. _We're going to stay the night and warp back home in the morning._

 _Is Joleena alright? I thought I heard explosions._

 _Don't worry about that. I'll see you in the morning._

Joe held Joleena until her crying quieted. He held her against him and settled down for the night.


	12. Chapter 12

Fred had never seen Fina so angry before. Her face was flushed, her fists trembled, and tears stood out in her eyes. Honestly she looked kinda hot, but it pissed Fred off that someone could upset his angel like that. She slapped the new guy in the face, hard, and went storming off.

"Fina?" Fred jogged up to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Who the hell is that guy?"

Fina looked away and he gently brushed away a tear off her cheek with his thumb.

"His name is Nathan." She whispered. "He's the old Warp Wizard I was working for before Joe."

"What?" Fred went wide eyed. "But I thought he was dead."

"I did too. I- I even blamed myself for his death." Fresh tears sprung to Fina's eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

"Hey," Fred gently turned her head back and kissed her forehead. "Did you want me to kick his butt for you?"

Fina chuckled and shook her head. "No. San-Li is already about to kill him."

Fred looked over and saw Sam trying to talk down an extremely agitated San-Li. Fina sighed and started to go over, but Fred grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Wait. Sam's got this. Let him calm her down." He said pulling her close to his side. "I don't think you should get involved."

"I already am involved." Fina mummered. "So who are the two people with you?"

"Their names are Thomas and Nicki. They said that they're Time Agents here to help us, but San-Li doesn't trust them. That may be because Nicki's flirting with Sam though. They seem alright to me."

Fina glanced over at them and shrugged. "They don't seem to bad, but those definitely aren't Time Agent uniforms."

Fred frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Nathan used to work with Time Agents all the time. And whatever they're wearing aren't Time Agent uniforms."

"Funny... that's just what San-Li said." Fred cast a suspicious glance at them. "Come on, let's go talk to them."

Fina nodded and they headed towards Nicki and Thomas who were off by themselves. They immediately stopped talking when they approached making Fred and Fina exchange glances. But Fred forced himself to smile at them and seem nonchalant.

"Hey guys." He grinned. "So um, thanks for helping us find our friends. So I guess you'll be on your way now right?"

"Um," They glanced at each other and back at them. "We can't."

"Oh?" Fina glanced at Fred. "Why not?"

"Yeah, you told us that your mission was to help us find your friends." Fred narrowed his eyes. "You did that so why can't you leave now?"

"Um..." Thomas blinked and looked away nervously. "Because..."

"We have to get you off the island safely." Nicki said quickly. "Technically our mission isn't complete until you guys are safely back home."

"Yeah think about it," Thomas wrung his hands nervously. "W-we're still on their island a-and they're short three prisoners so they could come after you guys at any minute and-"

Nicki quickly clamped her hand over his mouth, cutting him off. "What my brother means is that we want to make sure you guys are alright before we leave."

"Thomas," Fina leaned close to him and batted her eyes inocently. "Is this true? You wouldn't lie to me would you?"

Thomas turned bright red and gave her a shaky smile. "N-n-no, I-I-I, um..."

"No we wouldn't." Nicki glared at Fina and pulled her brother behind her. "Now are you done interrogating us? We already showed our credentials to your friend."

"Yeah, I think we're good." Fred wrapped an arm around Fina's waist and pulled her away. "So what was that about?"

Fina pursed her lips in thought. "I don't think they're lying per se, but they're definitely hiding something."

There was the sound of several distant explosions and Fina stopped walking. Mr. Beauchene stood up looking worried but sat down again. Fina closed her eyes and Fred waited while she was probably talking to Joe with their weird mind link.

Fina sighed. "I think Joleena's having a bit of a break down. Joe's going to stay with her through the night and we'll warp home tomorrow morning."

"Alright." Fred kissed her temple. "I'll go gather some fire wood. Be right back angel."

"Wait," Fina laid a hand on his arm. "Take Thomas with you? Maybe you can get him to talk."

"Whatever you want, angel." Fred flashed her another smile before walking away.

* * *

There was minimal talking around the fire and the atmosphere was tense. Anna was sitting with Jodie sharing stories about Joleena and Thomas and Nicki were talking together in whispered hushes. Mr. Beauchene was sitting off by himself staring into the fire with a sorrowful look on his face. Fred, Sam, and San-Li sat together while Nathan stared at San-Li from across the fire with a sad wistful smile on his face. Fina was keeping watch just outside of the clearing.'

"So will Joleena be alright?" Sam asked.

"I dunno." Fred shrugged. "Fina said that she was having a meltdown or something."

"I'm not surprised." Sam mumbled. "I heard the Tenebrosi may have tortured her. Who are they anyway?"

"The most despicable, evil people imaginable." San-Li muttered.

Sam sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. San-Li had her sword out and was slowly polishing it, glaring at Nathan from across the fire. He was staring at her with a small smile on his face.

"You've grown so much." Nathan chuckled softly. "You look beautiful, Sony."

"Don't talk to me," San-Li growled. "You're lucky I don't cut your head off right here, right now."

"And dude, aren't you like forty?" Fred frowned in disgust. "You know San-Li isn't even twenty yet right?"

Nathan shrugged. "Thirty-three actually. And I can't believe its been that long. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were kids together."

San-Li lept up and yelled at him."Say one more word and I will kill you!"

"Geez, over react much?" Nicki snickered.

"You know, I can kill you too!" San-Li yelled at her, brandishing her sword.

Nicki flicked her wrists making her own swords appear. "Ready whenever you are."

"Nicki stop it!" Thomas yelled. "If you keep egging her on she's going to react."

"San-Li , calm down please!" Sam jumped up and put his hands on her shoulders. "Please sweetheart, um... think of Sammy and Keiko waiting back home."

San-Li took a deep breath and sat back down with some effort. Thomas nudged Nicki and she put away her swords.

Fred sighed and cast a worried glance at Fina. "I hope morning comes soon. I can't wait to get out of here."


	13. Chapter 13

The morning sun shone through the trees and burned the dew from the ground. Joe woke up about an hour ago but didn't want to wake up Joleena who was still asleep on his chest. He kept threading his fingers through her hair, working out the tangles for her.

He still couldn't believe what Mr. Beauchene told him. It just didn't sound like something Joleena would ever do. But she said she remembered it and had fallen asleep crying about it. Joe didn't blame her. Kidnapped, possibly tortured, and then finding out that she had been lied to for years? With part of her memory erased? No wonder why she fell apart.

Joleena began to stir at his caresses and slowly opened her eyes. Joe looked down at her and couldn't help but smile. Even after crying all night Joleena still woke up incredibly beautiful.

"Good morning." He whispered.

She slowly tilted her head up towards him. At first her eyes looked completely blank, almost as if she didn't recognize him. For a moment Joe was scared that last night really had broken her. But then she blinked and a bit of warmth came into her eyes.

"Morning." She whispered.

"So..." Joe drew circles on her shoulder. "Did you... sleep alright?"

Joleena's eyes went blank again and she looked away. "Don't ask me that."

"I'm sorry." Joe gave her a gentle squeeze. "But I care about you a lot and I want to make sure you're okay."

"Do you?" Joleena whispered. "Even after what you found out about me, do you really still care about me?"

"More than that." Joe tilted her face up and looked into her eyes. "Joleena Beauchene, no matter what you may have done in your past I still love you and I always will."

The warmth came back into Joleena's eyes and she caressed his cheek. She sat up with some effort and pressed her lips against his jaw. She trailed her lips up towards his ear sending a shiver down his spine.

"Make love to me." She whispered. "Make love to me until I forget everything."

Joe cleared his throat awkwardly and gently pushed her away. "Sweetheart, as much as I would love to do that, now isn't the best time. We're in the middle of the woods and someone might walk in on us."

Joleena sighed and stood up. She folded her arms and herself and started raking her nails up and down her arms.

"Sweetheart, please don't do that." Joe went over to her and stilled her hands. "You're going to make yourself bleed doing that."

"You're disgusted with me aren't you?" She whispered. "I don't blame you."

"Joleena stop it." Joe gave her a gentle shake. "I told you what you did doesn't matter to me. Aren't you the one who says dwelling in the past distracts from the present and the future?"

A branch snapped and they both looked up to see Mr. Beauchene cautiously walking towards him. There were bags under his eyes and his suit was torn and crumpled. Joleena sucked in a sharp breath and her whole body tensed.

"Joleena please," Mr. Beauchene lifted his hands in a placating gesture. "I just want to talk to you."

Joe nodded and started to move away, but Joleena grabbed his arm.

"Don't leave me," She whispered. "Please."

"It's alright Joseph, I don't mind if you stay." Mr. Beauchene sighed and sat down on a fallen log. He gestured for them to sit down and grabbed Joleena's hands in his.

"Joleena, please understand that I love you very much." He said looking her in the eyes. "What your uncle and I did was to protect you, just like you thought you were protecting our family."

"You erased my memory. You covered up what I did." Joleena whispered. "Is that why mom left?"

"Your mother left because she no longer wanted to be part of our family. It had nothing to do with you."

"You still lied daddy!"

"To protect you! If anyone had found out what you had done the council would have taken away your magic!" Mr. Beauchene stopped and took a deep breath. "Your mother and I had been too caught up with our own problems to teach you the proper discipline and responsibility. Which you learned!"

Tears rolled down Joleena's cheeks. She gave a shuddering sob and buried her face in her father's chest. Mr. Beauchene wrapped his arms around his daughter and held her tightly, tears of relief beading in the corners of his eyes.

Joe stood up with a small smile on his face. "I'll give you two a minute alone."

Mr. Beauchene gave him a grateful nod and Joe headed back to the clearing to talk to the others.

* * *

Mr. Beauchene stroked his daughters hair as she cried in his arms.

"Joleena I am so sorry for everything I've had to put you through." He whispered.

Joleena didn't say anything and nestled further into his chest. He continued to stroke her hair until he worked his fingers to the nape of her neck. Joleena gasped but before she could break away he blasted his magic through her mind, blocking out a large portion of the pain she was in. If Joleena found out she might hate him for it, but no matter what he would always protect his daughter.

Joleena jolted when his magic entered her mind and then went limp.

"Joleena?" He pulled her away slowly to look at her. "Are you alright?"

Joleena stared at him blankly for a moment, but then her eyes slowly came into focus.

"I'm a little tired, daddy." She said with a small smile. "But I feel a lot better now."

He sighed in relief and kissed her forehead.

"Come on, let's get back to your boy- ahem, Joseph and the others." He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "When we get back I'll fly you to a resort to relax from all of this."

"Yes daddy." Joleena smiled up at him. "I'd like that very much."

* * *

Joe was almost to the edge of the clearing when he heard shouting and yelling. He rushed through the trees and saw Nathan on the ground while Fred and Sam tried to hold back San-Li. Nathan was holding a bloodied shoulder and to no surprise San-Li's sword was stained.

"Let me go so I can kill that bastard!" San-Li screamed.

"San-Li, please! Calm down!" Sam yelled.

"Yeah Li, before you actually do kill the guy!" Fred yelled.

"That's the point!" San-Li yelled.

She broke free of their grip and ran towards Nathan with her sword raised.

"Stop!" Joe yelled holding his hand out and froze her in place. "San-Li, I'm going to let you go and you're going to behave yourself. That's a direct order. Got it?"

San-Li glared at him through the magic but then gave the slightest nod. Joe lowered his hand and the glow vanished. She shot Nathan another dirty look, but walked a few feet away to clean her sword. Nathan gave a sigh of relief and slowly stood up, still holding his injured shoulder.

"Thanks. Sony still has a temper I see." He winced. "Finny, do you think you could..."

"Can't." Fina shrugged. "I gave up my immortality along with my healing a while ago."

Nathan's nonchalant smile fell and a bit of anger flashed in his eyes. "You did what?"

"You heard me." Fina stared him down. "I gave it up. I'm mortal now."

"Joe! You let her do this!?"

"He didn't _let_ me do anything! I chose to-"

"Okay, enough." Joe said firmly. "Look, thanks for helping us, but now that we saved Joleena and my great granddaughter we're just going to go home now."

"Cool. Bye!" Nicki and Thomas said brightly.

"Wait, what?" Nathan frowned. "You can't leave yet. The Tenebrosi Sanction is planning something-"

"I don't care about them or what they're planning." Joe folded his arms. "What I do care about is getting my friends and my family safely home."

"But what makes you think that they won't just come back and take them?" Nathan said frantically. "Joe, this is our chance to stop them once and for all! We're the only ones who may be able to stop them!"

"Stop the Tenebrosi Sanction?" Mr. Beauchene scoffed entering the clearing with Joleena. "Impossible! No one's been able to track them let alone defeat them."

"Well we can!" Nathan stood in front of Joe. "Joseph, there's a reason why for the first time in history two Warp Wizards are in existence. We are meant to stop them! We have to before it's too late."

Nicki and Thomas exchanged glances. "Um, we agree with the old guy. The Tenebrosi are too dangerous to take on."

"Old guy?"

"Joe, a lot is at stake if we don't act now!"

Joe sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, alright. Just... give me a second to think."

He gestured for everyone else to follow him to the edge of the clearing away from Mr. Beauchene, Nicki, Alex, and Nathan.

"Okay, what do you guys think?"

"I say this sounds like an awesome adventure." Fred grinned eagerly. "Let's kick the Tenebrosi's ass!"

"I'm down." San-Li grinned wickedly. "I never did get to avenge my family."

Sam frowned and shook his head. "I think this is absolutely stupid and suicidal and I definitely think you should go back to our children, San-Li. But, I highly doubt that I'll be able to talk you out of it so I'll go to."

"And I'll do whatever you ask me to, sir." Fina smiled.

"Of course you would." Fred mumbled under his breath.

"Okay it's settled." Joe sighed and turned to Jodie, Joleena, and Anna. "You three have been through enough so I'm definitely warping you guys home."

"What? No way!" Anna protested. "I never get to do cool stuff like this. Besides, I've become really good at magic so you might need me."

"Well I'm definitely out." Jodie mummered. "I've had enough of the Tenebrosi to last a life time."

"Joleena?" Joe said gently. "I really think that you should go home with your dad. You've been though enough sweetheart."

Joleena pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Non, _mon amour_ I much rather stay with you. Much rather."

"Joleena..."

"Joseph." Joleena stared him down. "I'm going."

Joe nodded and went back to where the others were waiting. Needless to say that Mr. Beauchene nearly blew his lid when he found out Joleena was going.

"Joleena, I just got you back and I refuse to risk losing you again!" He said in a low angry voice and turned to Joe. "I suppose I have you to blame for this?"

"Daddy, this was my decision." Joleena said quietly. "I am a Beauchene, remember? We are not cowards, _oui_?"

Mr. Beauchene shot Joe another glare but nodded. "Then I will accompany you as well."

"We're also coming." Nicki said quickly. "You guys might still need our help."

San-Li shot Joe a warning and shook her head but he nodded. "Sure. We could use all the help we can get."

"Perfect. Let's get going right away." Nathan said.

"Give me a sec, I'm going to get my great granddaughter out of here." Joe grabbed Jodie's hand and pulled her away from the others.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jodie asked him quietly. "The Tenebrosi seem like a pretty dangerous group."

"Trust me I know." Joe sighed. "But what if Nathan is right and this is the one chance to stop them once and for all? I can't risk letting them get away and try kidnapping you or anyone else again."

"Alright." Jodie pulled him into a tight hug. "Please be careful Joe."

"I will." Joe squeezed her tightly. "You be careful too. Be on guard just in case they try anything."

"Trust me, I'll activate all of my security bots when I get home." Jodie chuckled and pulled away with tears in her eyes. "Later Joe."

"Bye Jodie." Joe pulled out The Book and warped her home. He then headed back to where the others were waiting. "Okay. Let's take down the Tenebrosi once and for all."


	14. Chapter 14

After Joe got Jodie safely home, he stepped to the side with Fina, San-Li, and Nathan to try and plan what exactly they were going to do.

"I've been trying to follow the Tenebrosi's trail for years." Nathan explained. "They use such a wide array of cloaking and shadow magic that it's-"

"Nearly impossible to track, we know." San-Li interrupted impatiently. "That's the reason why I had to go through the underground."

Nathan gave her a small smile. "You always were pretty resourceful, Sony."

"Don't." Joe shot San-Li a look before she could respond. "Keep going, Nathan."

"In order to go completely off their radar and catch them off guard, I had to cut off my Warp Wizard connection and make it seem like I had died. I'm sorry, but I never meant to hurt you or leave you behind, Finny. I just wanted to protect you."

Fina looked away and didn't say anything. Nathan sighed and kept going.

"It was difficult tracking them or deciphering their plots. For a while I think they were just recruiting magicians and time travelers." Nathan's face became grim. "But now I have reason to believe that they're planning an attack on Syrania itself."

"That explains why they tried to kidnap Jodie and Anna, they don't want them seeing the future and warning anyone." Joe said. "But why would they kidnap Joleena too? As far as I know she can't see the future."

Nathan shook his head. "I don't know, that threw me off too. But I do know that a lot of their activity was similar to when they were trying to summon the Yacumama."

"You knew about that!?" Joe and Fina exclaimed at the same time.

"Not til after the situation was handled." Nathan shot Joe a smile. "You handled things pretty well I heard."

"Thanks." Joe nodded. "What else do you know?"

"I don't know the details but whatever they're planning is taking place under this mountain. Some kind of mass spell or ritual. My guess is that they're going to try and resurrect something again or raise an army and launch an attack on Syrania." Nathan said.

"So what's the problem?" San-Li shrugged. "Let's just plant some explosions and blow up the mountain. Problem solved."

"I wish it were that simple, but there's still their castle fortress." Nathan sighed in frustration. "There are so many secrets in there, but if we destroy their mountain plans then they'll pack up their fortress and be gone long before we could make it back there."

"You're right." Joe muttered. "Ugh, I hate to say this but it might be best if we split up. One group can go back to the fortress and another group goes to the mountain."

"I'll hit the fortress." San-Li spoke up. "I'm pretty good at espionage."

"And I'll go with her." Nathan said.

"The hell you will!"

"San-Li," Joe gave her a pointed look. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

San-Li rolled her eyes as Joe grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the others. She folded her arms with an irritable huff.

"What Joe?"

Joe glanced towards the others and leaned close to her. "I want you to keep an eye on Nathan. Nicki and Thomas as well."

"Really?" San-Li raised an eyebrow. "Care to tell me why?"

"Look, I want to trust them, especially the old Warp Wizard but," Joe sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I really don't want to risk trusting the wrong people. And since your the most deceitful person I know, figured you'd be the one who could see through it."

The corner of San-Li's mouth lifted in a small smile. "Is that your way of saying that you trust me now?"

Joe chuckled and brushed her bang out of her eyes. "I don't think I have much of a choice. We're bonded remember?"

She chuckled and knocked his hand away. "Yeah, yeah, whatever Warp Wiz."

"So are we good?" Nathan said suddenly coming up to them. "We should really get going now."

Joe gave San-Li another nod and she went to where Sam and the others were waiting. He looked over and saw Joleena watching him. Their eyes met and she gave him a small smile and a wave.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah." Joe smiled and waved back. "She's incredible."

"Joe." Nathan put a hand on his shoulder and turned him to face him. "Do you love her?"

"Uh..." Joe's mouth opened in surprise. "Y-yeah. Is it that obvious."

Nathan gave him a small smile. "Then I hope you enjoy the time you have together. Make every moment count while you can."

Joe opened his mouth, taken completely off guard, but before he had a chance to say anything Nathan gave him another smile and walked away. Joleena watched Nathan leave and then came over towards him. She still had bags under her eyes and looked tired but better than she had looked over the past few hours. Her father came over with her and they stood in front of him.

"I've decided to go back home as well." Mr. Beauchene announced. "Joleena and I talked and we decided that it's best if I return home as well. Just in case the Tenebrosi try to attack another Beauchene."

"Sounds good to me." Joe said pulling out The Book. "And Joleena, do you want to go home too?"

Joleena shook her head. "Non, _mon amour_ I'll stay with you. You might need my help."

Mr. Beauchene gave his daughter a tight hug. "Be careful daughter. Take care of her Joseph."

When they pulled apart Joe warped Mr. Beauchene home and gathered Joleena in his arms instead.

"Are you sure you're okay to do this, sweetheart?" He asked kissing her forehead. "You've been through a lot of hell lately."

"I should really thank Antonia for what she did to me." Joleena whispered with a small snide smile. "Whatever they meant to do with me has backfired and left my magic more powerful than ever."

Joe tightened his grip on her. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean it that I felt daddy dearest try to alter my emotion with his magic."

"He did what!?" Joe's jaw tightened. "I can't believe he-"

"It didn't work." Joleena giggled. "My magic was too strong. I'm now stronger than my own father."

Joleena began giggling again and there was something about it that send eerie chills down Joe's spine.

"Joleena stop it." Joe whispered urgently. "Get a hold of yourself."

She stopped with a small gasp and a blush spread across her cheeks. "S-sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Joe pulled her close and gave her a tight hug. "Are you sure you don't want to go home? You're been through a lot of hell."

"Non," Joleena took a deep breath and pulled back to look at him. "I'll be fine really. As long as you're with me I'll be fine."

Joe nodded, but still felt unsure. They headed back to the others and he relayed the plan to them.

"Sounds good to me." Fred shrugged. "But if we're splitting up how are we going to keep in touch? You know, in case something happens."

"I can fly back and forth and deliver messages." Fina suggested. "Or I can stay with San-Li's group and we can communicate via mind link."

"No way, you aren't leaving my side again, angel." Fred said adamantly.

"Fred..."

"No, no, I don't want you in that place again either Fina." Joe said. "Besides, I'd rather you stay with me anyway."

"Um, I might have a solution." Sam dug in his pocket and pulled out two silver pieces.

Fred eyed them in confusion, "Thanks Sam, but I don't think there's blue tooth out here."

"They don't need blue tooth, Fred." Sam rolled his eyes. "They're interconnected, mental responsive audio links that are able to synchronize between distances of-"

"English, Sam."

"They're fancy walkie talkies." San-Li chuckled. "You can use your mind to control them and they don't need any outside signals to communicate with each other."

"Cool." Fred eagerly grabbed.

"Be careful with those!" Sam said handing the other one to San-Li. "These are still prototypes and they're delicate."

"We'll be very careful." Joe took it from Fred and put it in his own ear.

They all looked at each other and got silent.

"So," Joe said slowly. "I guess this is it huh? We're all going our separate ways."

"Yeah, we're all trying to take down a super evil organization, but it shouldn't be a problem." Sam rolled his eyes. "And then we'll all go out for pizza together."

Joe and Fred just looked at each other and laughed. They all gave each other one last look and slowly went their separate ways.


	15. Chapter 15

They hiked up the mountain side until they reached metal tracks and heard some kind of machinery working. They hid among the dense bushes under an over hang of rocks and tall trees, and tried to figure out what to do.

"I say we just rush 'em!" Fred said. "We have the element of surprise and everything!"

"We don't know that." Fina said. "In order to save Joleena I had to cause a bit of ruckus and they were really upset that I took her. They could be up ahead planning a trap to take her back."

"Which we will not let them do." Joe said laying his hand on top of Joleena's.

"Um, I think I can do something." Anna said. "Joleena's been teaching me astral projection. I can look ahead with my aura without them detecting me."

Joe looked at Joleena who nodded. "It is true. She's becoming very good."

"Alright." Joe touched Anna's shoulder. "See what you can find out and be careful. If you think for a second that they might be on to you, come right back."

"Got it."

Anna shifted into a lotus position and closed her eyes. She took several deep breaths and her eyes shot open, glowing bright pink. There was a small gust of wind but then everything went still again.

"Um, is she doing it?" Fred asked reaching out a hand to touch her.

Joleena impatiently batted his hand away. "Yes. Now please don't touch her. Her body is in a very vulnerable state right now."

Joe heard his ear piece beep and he stood up. "I'll be right back. Keep an eye on her alright?"

They nodded and he walked a little away from them. He touched his ear piece. "San-Li? You guys alright?"

"Matter of speaking." San-Li grunted. "Just got attacked by some stupid bear thing called a cirmec or whatever. But that's not the problem. It's Nicki and Thomas."

Joe narrowed his eyes. "You think they're working for the Tenebrosi?"

"They have to be." San-Li mumbled. "The closer we get to the castle the more antsy they get. They're either planning an ambush or they're trying to stop us before we figure anything out about the Tenebrosi."

"And how close are you?"

"We're right up on it, but we're going to wait til dark before infiltrating. I'll take care of them then, wait til they're separated and off guard."

"And what about Nathan?"

San-Li's voice became even more agitated. "I still hate his guts but he doesn't seem to be working for the Tenebrosi at least. If you want though, I can help make your Warp Wizard status official and kill him for you."

"No thanks." Joe grimaced. "Why do you hate him so much anyway? It sounded like you two used to know each other."

There was silence on the other end and Joe wondered if she had hung up. But he heard her take a deep breath and her voice wavered.

"Let's just say that even with all the power of time in his hands, he's still willing to believe that the future is written in stone. Now matter who it hurts." She cleared her throat and her voice returned to normal. "Anyways, it doesn't matter anymore. I'll take care of things on my end. Just make sure you guys stay good on your end."

Joe nodded. "We will. And San-Li? I don't want you to hurt anyone... but I trust you to do what you have to do."

"... Thanks Joe."

The earpiece clicked off and Joe went back to the others. Anna was still doing her projection thing and Fina was in her lioness form, listening for any sound around them while Fred stroked her fur. Joleena was staring off into space, her nails raking up and down her arms again, creating bloody welts.

"Joleena?" Joe whispered urgently, sitting next to her. "Sweetheart, are you alright?"

Joleena didn't answer for a long, tense moment but slowly blinked. She drew in a sharp breath and looked up at him.

"Sorry." She said in a small whisper. "I was... far off _mon amour._ I am alright now."

Joe laid a hand on her arm and jumped when he felt how icy her skin was. "Joleena! You're freezing!"

"How are you cold?" Fred frowned. "It's like, eighty degrees out here."

She shot him a glare and her eyes momentarily went dark. Fred jumped and he and Joe exchanged worried glances. But then Joleena shook her head, clearing her angry expression and gave them a small smile.

"Sorry Fred, I'm just a little irritable." She said softly. "I'm not sure why I'm so cold. I might be coming down with something."

Fred and Joe exchanged glances again. There was a slight awkward silence and Anna began to stir with a slight moan.

"Sorry I was out for so long." She mumbled, pressing a hand to her forehead. "But when I saw the tracks had these carts that were leading into the mountain, I went inside for a better look and got pretty deep in."

"And what did you see?" Joe asked urgently. "Are they trying to resurrect another monster or an army?"

"Worse." Anna's face became grim. "I saw a mass graveyard that they were trying to unearth."

Everyone shuddered, the air suddenly seemed colder. Even Fred looked pale.

"So what you're saying is," He swallowed nervously. "That the Tenebrosi are trying to raise an army of zombies?"

"Worse than that." Joleena whispered. "They'll be an army of undead shadow warriors. Probably with a dark version of the magic they had while they were living. And you can be sure that they'll be hard to re-kill."

"Then I guess we'll just have to stop them before they can finish." Fina said, turning back into her human form. "Should I fly ahead and see if they're another way in?"

"I already saw a way in." Anna said. "There's a small cave entrance not too far from here. It should take us directly inside without us being discovered."

"Let's go then." Joe stood up. "Hopefully we'll be able to stop the Tenebrosi before they even know what hit them."

* * *

"This is incredible." Sam adjusted his glasses and peered closer at the unconscious cirmec. "Did you see the way its fur deflected those magic blast?"

"Yeah, we saw." Nicki muttered.

Everyone else was battered and exhausted from their fight with it. The cirmec was a large bear like creature with massive forearms, deadly claws and teeth, and fur that hardened to resist magic blasts and swords. If Nathan hadn't been able to tranquilize it while it was going after San-Li and Nicki, they all probably would have become it's next meal.

Thomas cringed and bit back a whimper as San-Li finished bandaging the cut on his arm. Nicki of course was hovering close by looking between San-Li and her brother.

"Hey San-Li come look at this!" Sam said excitedly. "It looks like its fur is interwoven at the base."

"I wouldn't get too close Sam." Nathan cautioned. "I gave it a large dose but I don't know how long it will last."

Sam ignored him though and started muttering to himself, pulling out his digital recorder to take notes.

"Are you almost done?" Nicki said impatiently.

"You don't have to stay by his side 24/7 you know. I'll be done in a minute." San-Li muttered.

Nicki and Thomas exchanged glances. San-Li noted their secretive looks and her frowned deepened. She finished bandaging Thomas's arm and went over to Sam. Out of the corner of her eye she saw them having another one of their whispered conversations.

"Enjoying yourself?" She asked Sam.

Sam nodded eagerly. "I'm telling you, this fur is amazing. Can I borrow a knife?"

"Sure." San-Li pulled out a small dagger and handed it to him, handle first. "Just don't get it too bloody."

"I'm just going to cut a small sample of fur off." He muttered.

Sam pulled out one of his silver travel cubes the size of a sugar cube and it morphed into a small container. Nathan and San-Li held their breath as he carefully cut a small patch of fur close to the skin, making sure to cut below where it weaved together. He froze when the cirmec grunted but finished up when it relaxed again.

"Okay now let's get moving before it wakes up again." Nathan said.

They continued walking until the light began to fade. Sam stayed up front with San-Li with Nathan in the middle and Nicki and Thomas trailing behind. Sam grabbed San-Li's hand and laced their fingers together tightly.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked looking at her. "You're jaw's been tense this entire time."

"I'm fine." San-Li muttered and closed her eyes. "We're closing in on the castle. We should stop soon and wait until dark before going in."

"You sure?" Sam said nervously. "That sounds dangerous."

San-Li smirked. "I'm much more dangerous, remember?"

Sam chuckled. "Sure mommy."

"Whatever, daddy." San-Li cautiously glanced back at Nicki and Thomas and lowered her voice. "When we stop, I'm going to send you off with Thomas and Nathan for food or fire wood or something. I have this hunch and I want to get Nicki alone."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Sam asked. "She seems a bit... quick tempered."

"Just trust me kay?

Sam nodded reluctantly. "Alright. Just be careful."

They came into a small clearance and stopped walking.

"Are we stopping here for the night?" Thomas asked hopefully. "I feel like we've been walking forever."

"Yeah we're stopping." San-Li said. "Nicki and I will say here while you guys get some fire wood and maybe something to eat?"

"Um," Nicki and Thomas exchanged glances. "We can go by ourselves."

"And I'll be happy to keep you company, Sony." Nathan smiled.

"Don't call me that." She growled.

"I really think the three of us guys should go so we can watch each others backs out there." Sam smiled at Nicki. "I'd really appreciate it if you stayed behind with San-Li, Nicki. So you can protect her if something happens while we're gone."

Nicki blushed and she smiled back at Sam. "Sure Sam, whatever you say."

Thomas shot her a look and she gave the tiniest of nods. "Alright, we'll be right back."

As soon as the tree guys disappeared among the trees, there was a tense and awkward silence between Nicki and San-Li. They eyed each other for a long moment before San-Li started to head off in the direction of the castle.

"Where are you going?" Nicki asked sharply.

"To the Tenebrosi's castle." San-Li said over her shoulder. "I just said all that so I can go alone. Safer for everyone that way."

Suddenly Nicki materialized in front of her. San-Li blinked in surprise. She definitely wasn't expecting that. Nicki gave her a determined look and held out her arms.

"I don't that's a good idea." Nicki said. "I can't let you go there."

San-Li chuckled. "You don't have a choice kid."

She tried moving around Nicki, but she flicked her wrists making her swords appear. She stepped in front of San-Li and stood in a ready fighting stance."I said I can't let you do that."

San-Li chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I don't think you want to do that little girl. Someone might get hurt." She started walking again getting closer to Nicki.

Nicki's lips thinned into a line. She twirled her wrists in a quick motion, making her swords spin once with almost no detectable motion. San-Li gasped as she felt the air around her move and her shoulders suddenly started to sting. Both of her sleeves fell off and a line of blood appeared on both arms.

Nicki looked surprised but stood her ground. San-Li stared at her mutely before chuckling quietly. Her laughter got louder and louder until it became maniacal and she felt something snap within her.

San-Li pulled out her sword and slashed with lightning speed, Nicki barely having time to jump back. Nicki then gasped and a red line of blood appeared on her cheek. Her whole expression altered and she stared San-Li with black rage.

"Big mistake old lady." She growled.

San-Li twirled her sword in her hand and grinned ferociously. "I'm going to enjoy killing you."


	16. Chapter 16

Their swords flashed in the in the quickly fading sunlight. They danced around each other, swinging their swords in sharp, deadly arches. The clashing sound of metal against metal echoed throughout the trees and they countered each others blows. Sweat poured down both of their faces and tiny cuts criss crossed their bodies. But that didn't stop either of them.

Nicki spun in a tight circle, her twins swords spinning with her. San-Li jumped back, narrowly missing the tips and swung upwards. Nicki dodged backwards but the tip of the sword sliced her jumpsuit. Nicki hissed in pain as blood began to seep through the jumpsuit.

San-Li charged forward, hoping to take advantage of her momentary distraction, but Nicki was able block and dodge her blade. And so their dance continued, neither of them able to fully take advantage of the other. Nicki moved just as quickly as San-Li, swung her swords with the same speed and precision as her. But then an idea struck San-Li and she smiled.

She spun in a tight circle around Nicki. She swung her sword sideways, then quickly thrust upwards, twisting her wrist in a semi circle. But Nicki mirrored her movements perfectly with the same speed. Their swords locked together and they stared each other down.

"Who the hell taught you how to fight like this?" San-Li growled.

Nicki smirked and thrust her hands upwards, sending both of their swords flying up in the air. They flipped backwards, almost completely in synch with each other, and caught their swords before they hit the ground.

Nicki smiled. "My mother."

* * *

"So who are Sammy and Keiko?"

Sam blinked at Nathan. "Pardon?"

"Sammy and Keiko." Nathan smiled. "You mentioned them earlier and it calmed Sony down. Who are they?"

"Oh." Sam looked away with a small blush. "Sammy and Keiko are our children. A set of twins."

Nathan's smile widened. "You two have children already? What are they like? How is San-Li as a mother?"

"You're asking a lot of questions about my girlfriend." Sam's smile tightened a little. "And I'm not sure if she'd want me to tell you anything."

"We grew up together." Nathan shrugged. "And after so long it's just incredible to see her again. She's so much older and so more mature now."

"Can we get back now?" Thomas interrupted impatiently. "I want to get back to my sister and San-Li."

"We'll go soon." Sam said. "They'll be fine."

Thomas stopped and started at Sam. "Was splitting up your idea or San-Li's?"

Sam blinked and stared back at Thomas trying to keep his face blank. But without him even answering Thomas's eyes widened in fear and he took off running. Sam dropped the wood he was carrying and ran after him with Nathan following behind.

"Thomas wait!" Sam called. "Come back!"

"I can't believe I let you trick me like that!" Thomas yelled and kept running. "You have no idea what you've done!"

"What have I done?" Sam yelled. "Why is it so bad that you and Nicki are separated? What are you two really up to?"

Thomas shot him a look full of fear before kicking his heels together, activating his rocket shoes and took off through the trees.

* * *

San-Li was starting to notice something. The longer they fought, the wilder Nicki swings became. The look in her eyes told San-Li that she was starting to panic. Nicki was skilled but she lacked discipline and patience. And she was growing tired. Her breathing was becoming labored and her movements were starting to become sluggish. Nicki was fading an fading fast.

But San-Li felt more alive than ever. Pure adrenalin flowed through her veins and she couldn't help but laugh. She didn't even really see Nicki as a person anymore, just an opponent she needed to defeat. Her blade clashed against hers, but the force of her ferocious blows were forcing Nicki back. Good.

San-Li took a half step back and paused for half a second. She thrust her sword upwards, allowing it to fly out of her hands. Nicki leaned back to avoid the sword and thrust hers forward. With a large grin, San-Li grabbed Nicki's wrists before the blades could touch her and twisted them upwards, exposing her core. San-Li kicked her hard in the chest sending Nicki flying and she slammed into a tree with a cry of pain. In one smooth motion San-Li spun forward, grabbed her own sword before it fell, and swung it directly at Nicki's neck.

"Mom stop!" Thomas yelled, suddenly bursting through the trees. "She's your daughter!"

San-Li gasped and halted her sword a mere hair's breath away from Nicki's neck. The blade had already cut through her hair and a thin line of blood appeared on her neck. With one side now longer than the other, the blond hair slowly slid off her head revealing her real midnight black hair, pinned into a knot on her head.

"What the hell?" San-Li took a few staggering steps backwards and fell onto her rear.

Thomas sighed in relief and went over to help his sister to her feet. Nicki glared at San-Li and dusted her self off.

"I can't believe you almost killed me." She muttered. "Daddy always said you had a temper, but he didn't say how insane you were."

San-Li only stared at them mutely as Sam and Nathan finally came out of the trees, panting with exhaustion.

"San-Li, is everything alright?" Sam eyed her in concern and then shot Thomas a look. "What happened? What did you do?"

Thomas gave them a sheepish smile "Um... I think we have a confession to make."

He nodded at Nicki who huffed in frustration but nodded back. They removed their green and brown contact lenses revealing dark blue eyes. Thomas then took off his curly brown wig that covered his real midnight black hair. He then reaching inside his jump suit and put on a pair of glasses. Nicki unpinned her hair and let it fall messily over her shoulders.

"Oh my gosh." It was Sam's turn to fall back onto his rear and he stared wide at them. "Y-you're -you're..."

"Yeah." Thomas nodded. "We're Sammy and Keiko. From about sixteen years in the future."

 **A/N- don't forget to review :)**


	17. Chapter 17

The tunnel was nearly pitch black and their footsteps echoed. They walked slowly, keeping an ear out for any sounds. Joe lead the way in followed by Joleena, Anna, Fred and Fina covering their rear. He wanted Fina up front because of her animal senses, but one look from Fred told him that it would be better if she stayed closer to her boyfriend instead.

 _I don't push you too much do I Fina?_ He asked with their mind link.

 _No, of course not._ She answered. _I'm always happy to serve you, Joe._

 _Are you sure? Because I do put you in pretty dangerous situations and you don't even have your immortality or healing-_

 _Don't worry about that._ Fina interrupted. _Like I told you, my job and purpose in life is to serve you. And I'll do that anyway I can no matter what._

 _But Fred's really pissed-_

 _Ignore him. He's over protective and hard headed._

Joe chuckled out loud without meaning to. Joleena and Anna gave him a weird look and his face grew warm in embarrassment.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

They continued walking in silence. Anna gave a sharp intake of breath and stopped suddenly.

"Did you guys feel that?" She asked in a whisper. "Like... a cold breeze?"

Joleena nodded. "Oui, it sent shivers down my spine."

Joe felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He signaled the others to stay back and quietly crept forward. He could feel something too, he just wasn't sure what it was. There was a small exit up ahead. He looked through and when he saw the coast was clear he gestured for the others to follow him.

They ended up on a ledge overlooking a large cavernous space. Below them was an entire network of Tenebrosi members, both workers and magicians, unearthing what looked like a massive graveyard. Row after row of tombstones and coffins being dug up by machines and animal labor. As they were becoming exposed the magicians were painting symbols on them that glowed faintly.

"Geez, there has to be thousands of them." Fred whispered. "If the Tenebrosi's plan works then it'll definitely be hard to defeat them."

Another chill went through Joe's spine and he looked over his shoulder at the tunnel where they came from. He didn't see anything but he sore it felt like there was someone right behind them.

" _Mon amour?_ " Joleena whispered, laying a hand on his arm. "What is it?"

"I'm fine." Joe whispered back. "I just... it just feels like there's something behind us. But nothing's there."

"That's because we're beside you, Warp Wizard Joe."

Everyone jumped as two shadows rose from the floor beside them. Out of the shadows stepped the orange eyed man and woman who kidnapped Joleena, Anna, and Jodie earlier.

"Ah, miss Beauchene," the woman smiled. "I'm so glad my husband and I found you. Antonia will be most pleased."

"Yes, Antonia will indeed be pleased." The man smiled. "Now if you'll just come with us we can finish the final stages of the spell."

Joe glared at them and stepped protectively in front of his girlfriend. "Over my dead body!"

The man and woman looked at each other and grinned. "We will happily oblige."

* * *

"I still can't believe you almost took my head off." Keiko mumbled for the tenth time. "You really are a psychopath."

"Keiko, stop calling your mother a psychopath." Sam chided.

"There's no way she's my daughter," San-Li scoffed. "If she was, she wouldn't have lost the fight."

They exchanged a glare and looked away with a huff of annoyance. Sam chuckled inwardly. Without her disguise Keiko looked every bit like San-Li and even had her same smirk and snarl. And Sammy looked just like him with the same large glasses and inquisitive look in his eyes.

Night had fully fallen and they continued to make their way to the Tenebrosi's castle. Despite Sam's urging to go home the twins refused to leave. They used time crystals to get here but they wouldn't say why they came or why they wouldn't leave. The castle walls soon came into view and San-Li stopped with her lips pursed in thought.

"Hmm, I wish there was some way to see if they had guards on the wall before we go any further." She mumbled. "No need to let them know we're here before we can even get inside."

"Um," Sammy raised his hand shyly. "I think I can help."

He pressed the side his glasses and metal encased over the frames and a green screen came over the lenses. Sammy then pressed his heels together, activating his rocket shoes, and flew high above their heads, but stayed hidden near the tree tops.

"There are guards on the top of the northeast, northwest, and southwest walls." He called down to them. "But there's a blind spot on the southeast wall. We could climb up there and sneak in that way."

Nathan gave a low whistle. "Impressive. You sound like quite the little strategist."

"Thanks." Sammy flew back down. "But we should get going before they change out guards or cover more ground."

"By the way I've been meaning to ask about your shoes." Sam asked as they started walking again. "Do all Time Agents have them in the future?"

"Um," Sammy and Keiko exchanged glances. "We're not exactly Time Agents. We're still in training but this isn't an official mission."

"So what's with the weird outfits?" San-Li mumbled.

"If you must know daddy made them." Keiko said smugly. "He invented and patented this material to be water proof, electric proof, and resistant to both cold and heat. Daddy also invented the shoes."

Sam stopped walking and blinked in surprise, a wide smile growing on his face. "I did? I actually invented those?"

"Yep." Keiko grinned. "You made the glasses too."

"But mom helped with the designs." Sammy interjected. "She also did all the dangerous beta testing."

Nathan chuckled. "Sony always was a head first kind of person."

"I think it'd be best if we kept talking to a minimum right now." San-Li mumbled as they got closer.

They walked until the castle walls loomed over them. The pressed themselves against the bricks and tried to figure out how to climb the wall. Sammy whispered something to Keiko and they both nodded. Without a word they each grabbed Sam and San-Li and flew them to the top of the wall. Then they waited by the corner of the tower for them to get Nathan.

Sam knelt next to the tower next to San-Li and gently touched her hand. She looked over when she saw how proud he looked she couldn't help but smile as well.

"Aren't they amazing?" He whispered excitedly. "I can't believe they turned out so awesome."

"Yeah, but they still haven't told us why they're here." San-Li whispered back. "Isn't that a little weird? Because you know we wouldn't willingly send them somewhere this dangerous."

Sam smile faded a little. "What if we didn't have a choice?"

Before they could say anything else, Sammy and Keiko returned hoisting up Nathan on top of the walls. They all nodded at each other confirming that they were ready. Keiko grabbed San-Li's hands and lowered her down into the courtyard.

Together they made quick work of the few guards without any sound or them raising any alarm. To say San-Li was impressed would be an understatement. Usually only she would be able to dispose of someone with any noise. She hated to say it, but she was kinda proud.

"It seems like you've done this before." San-Li whispered.

Keiko shrugged. "You and dad used to train us with simulators. You wanted us trained, daddy wanted us safe."

"Then why are you here?" San-Li touched her arm. "You and I both know that Sam would never let you two time travel by yourselves. Especially so young."

"Geez, we're just here to help." Keiko impatiently brushed her hand off. "Just trust us alright?"

She quickly flew back up as Sammy flew back down with Sam. They waited until they brought Nathan down as well before they went inside. The door closed behind them with a definitive click and they were encased in near darkness.

* * *

Anna cringed as another large shadow bird slammed against her shield and a large crack appeared. She lowered her shield for just a moment to blast it with her magic. But just as she was feeling triumphant she felt stinging, burning claws rip into her back as she was attacked from behind.

Fred could feel sticky, warm blood continue to run down his arm as he threw the large stone at the shadow bird that had been circling and cutting him for the past half hour. It crushed it, but then another one flew at him and he barely managed to duck in time.

Fina, in the form of a white gorilla, slammed her fist onto two shadow birds at the same time. But then four more attacked her and one flew directly into her eyes.

Joe was horrified to realize that he couldn't use his time magic to stop the shadow birds. All he could do was blast time with his magic. But it was hard to focus with so many of them in his face and their wings blew black smoke everywhere making it nearly impossible to see.

Joleena looked down at everyone with tears streaming down her face. She turned back just in time block a kick from the man and reflect a blast from the woman. Her magic had become strong enough to stand her own against them, but they were still able to separate her from the others and prevent her from helping her friends.

"Stop this!" She yelled at them. "Leave my friends alone!"

"I'm afraid we cannot do that Miss Beauchene." The woman said calmly.

"Yes," The man aimed another blow at her. "we need you back at the castle to finish the spell, but you and your friends are making it difficult."

"So we're going to have to kill them and fight you until you tire out." The woman smiled. "Then carry you unconscious back to the castle."

Anna gave a particularly loud cry of pain and Joleena's head whipped towards her. She started to rush down to help her but she was slammed with dark magic and thrown part of the way down the stone stairs. Ignoring the pain in her side she thrust her arm out and blasted away the birds surrounding Anna. They're eyes met for half a second before Anna was fighting again.

"You see Miss Beauchene?" The man smiled. "It is no use to fight the Tenebrosi Sanction."

"As your friends will be most unfortunate to find out." The woman finished. "Our birds will make very quick work of them soon."

"Joleena hold on!" Joe yelled up at her. "We won't let them take you again!"

"But the future Warp Wizard has no choice." The man laughed. "Considering he'll be dead soon."

He reached down to grab Joleena but she blasted him back with her magic. She looked down again to where Joe and the others were fighting for their lives. And they were losing. Joleena closed her eyes and made a decision.

"I've gotten a lot stronger than you realize so you won't be able defeat me so easily." Joleena said standing up slowly. "But if you spare their lives I'll come with you willingly."

The man and the woman looked at each other and smiled. "Agreed Miss Beauchene."

They waved their arms and all the birds surrounding the others vanished. Tears of relief filled her eyes even as fear began to take hold of her. Her eyes met Joe's as the man and the woman bound her with chains of dark magic. Fear and realization filled his eyes.

"Joleena no!"

Joleena smiled down at him tearfully and shook her head. "It's the only way that you'll be safe."

But then a circle of shadow surrounded them, and burst into dark flames trapping them inside.

"No!" Joleena stared at the man and woman. "You said you'd let them go!"

"No we said we would spare their lives." The woman said.

"We said nothing about taking them prisoner." The man finished.

Joleena snarled but just as she opened her mouth a dark chain flew across her lips, gagging her. The man and woman spread their arms and transported them all away in a swirl of shadows.

 **A/N- Sorry for the wait. Enjoy and review please!**


	18. Chapter 18

Joe struggled to yank himself free of the chains that held him to the wall but the shackles held firm. The metal instead cut into his skin and brought fresh blood to the surface. But he didn't care. Once again he had failed to save Joleena and now she was probably being tortured. Tears of anguish stung his eyes, but he forced himself to blink them away and tug harder on his chains. The chains had been laced with some kind of anti magic that made things all that more difficult.

"Dammit!" He screamed when the shackles cut into his wrists again.

"Joe stop, you're bleeding everywhere." Anna said softly also chained by her wrists. "We will figure a way out."

"Well do you have any ideas yet!?" Joe snapped. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you're just chained up like the rest of us!"

"Yelling at me is not going to help Joleena!"

"Neither is being chained up!"

"Shut up!" Fina screeched. "Shut the hell up both of you!"

Joe and Anna stopped and stared at her. Fina was not only had her wrists chained together, but she also had an inhibitor collar around her neck. And just like before it was causing her to go into a feral state with protruding fangs and red eyes. The only difference was that she had Fred next to her to help calm her down preventing her from going feral completely. The inhibitor sparked making her hiss in pain.

"Breath sweetheart." Fred said with his arms around her shoulders. "Just breath through it. You can do it. You're stronger than some stupid inhibitor."

Fina closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. When she opened them again her eyes were a little less red and her fangs receded. She carefully laid her hand on top of his, being careful to avoid scratching him with her claws.

"Sorry." She whispered. "But neither of you yelling is going to help us."

Fred pulled her as close as the chains would allow. Joe sighed let his arms go slack. They were all badly beaten and embarrassingly so. Anna had cuts all over her back, Fina was slipping in and out of her feral state, and Fred had a large gash on his arm and a black eye. And Joe knew that he probably didn't look so good either.

But no matter how they looked or felt, Joleena definitely had to be going through worse. Never before had Joe seen her look so afraid for her life.

"There has to be some way out of here." Joe groaned. "Who knows what's happening to Joleena? What if they kill her?"

Anna pursed her lips in thought. "They wouldn't kill her, the Tenebrosi obviously needs her for something. The question is what."

"When Jodie and I were rescuing her I saw some of their ritual." Fina said tightly. "The symbols they use do something to you. They... bring something out of you that's dark."

"Any way to fight against it?"

"I don't know. Will power I think." Fina winced as a another surge of inhibitor magic went through her. "The longer I stared at the symbols the more I felt something dark inside of me stir to the surface. It took Jodie to snap me out of it."

"Well then maybe we can snap Joleena out of it too." Anna said hopefully. "Or maybe she has enough will power to resist their magic. She's the strongest person I know."

"I don't know about that. She seemed a little off to me." Fred said.

"Ugh! We need to get out of here!" Joe yelled in frustration and began yanking at his chains again. "Joleena isn't just staring at some symbols, she's being blasted with dark magic over and over again!"

Fina held back a scream as another surge hit her. "Where's San-Li? Shouldn't she and the others have reached the castle by now?"

As if on cue there was a sudden commotion in the hall and several guards ran past their cell. There was the sound of metal and screams of pain. Several bodies flew by and landed on the floor with a thud. Two dark shapes started to zip by, but then one back tracked and stopped in front of them.

"Guys?" San-Li blinked at them in surprise. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"San-Li!" Joe felt a wave a relief go through him. "They have Joleena again. Hurry up and get us out of here!"

San-Li nodded and gave a sharp whistle. The first figure that ran by also back tracked- a girl a few years younger San-Li and who looked a lot like her, and from the other side Sam, Nathan, and another guy who looked a lot like Sam ran up to them as well.

Sam gasped in horror when he saw them. "Oh my gosh! What happened to you guys?"

"That creepy man and woman jumped us and ambushed us with these freaky birds." Fred angrily. "And where did Nicki and Thomas go?"

"You're looking at them." San-Li said digging through one of the dead guard's pockets. "Meet Keiko and Sammy. My kids."

"Our kids." Sam reminded her.

San-Li finally pulled a key out of the guard's pocket and quickly unlocked the cell door. She immediately ran to Joe and began unlocking his shackles, then freed everyone else. As soon the inhibitor collar fell from Fina's neck, she jumped up and began vomiting in the corner.

"Alright Mr. Future Warp Wizard," San-Li stood in front of Joe. "What's the plan, now?"

Joe let his magic flare into his fist. "No plan. We're going to tear this place down brick by brick until we find Joleena."

San-Li smirked, a mischievous twinkle coming into her eyes. "I think I'm going to like working for you."

They ran through the corridors with Fina leading the way to where she remembered seeing Joleena. Needless to say that they were attacked by guards and magicians, but Keiko and San-Li took care of them easily, almost without breaking their stride. And what the magicians they couldn't fight hand-to-hand, Nathan, Anna, and Joe took care of them with magic blasts. But as they got further in they noticed that the guards were starting to thin out until they stopped coming altogether.

"Where is everyone?" Fred panted. "And why is it so quiet?"

"Maybe they ran scared." San-Li snickered. "Too bad."

Joe looked over at her. He noticed that while both her and Keiko were splattered with blood, Keiko at least looked nauseous and scared but San-Li's eyes shone happily. Sam stared at her in horror.

"San-Li, are you actually enjoying this?"

"Maybe."

"Whatever, I don't care." Joe said impatiently. "She can have all the fun she wants as long as it gets us closer to saving Joleena."

"This is it." Fina said as they to a set of large double doors. "This is where they had Joleena."

The doors were hanging crookedly on their hinges and the wood was splintered near the lock, but that wasn't the weird part. The weirdest things was that it was eerily quiet and there were absolutely no guards around. Joe blasted through the doors with his magic and they ran inside, ready to fight.

But it was completely empty. No magicians, no table, even the symbols on the floor had been completely washed out.

"Joleena!" Joe could feel his panic rising. "Joleena where are you!?"

"They were right here." Fina said looking around. "I swear, I can still feel their residual magic. Even Joleena's magic feels close by."

There was sound of laughing coming from the shadows around them and everyone tensed in a ready fighting position. The man and the woman stepped out of the shadows and slowly walked towards them.

Joe immediately blasted them with his magic, but it when right through them, revealing that they were just shadow illusions. They weren't really there, just shadow copies of themselves.

"Please do not panic." The woman said lifting her hands in defense. "We do not intend to fight you."

"Yes, we made a promise to Miss Beauchene not to harm you." The man said.

"Where is she?" Joe yelled. "Where is Joleena!? Where are you keeping her?"

The man and the woman looked at each other and laughed. "We're not keeping her anywhere. As a matter of fact, she should be here shortly and we're sure she can't wait to see you."

There was something about their happy and calm attitude that sent chills down Joe's spine. But then he heard the sound of heels on the stone floor and his heart sped up. He would know the sound of those seven inch heels anywhere.

"Joleena?" Joe peered into the darkness at the other side of the room. "Joleena is that you?"

The footsteps got louder and a figure emerged from the darkness. The man and the woman chuckled before disappearing in swirls of smoke, but Joe barely noticed as a smile came on his face. Joleena walked towards them slowly with her head down and her hair hanging over her face, but she was in one piece.

"Joleena." Joe started to move forward towards her, but both San-Li and Fina stepped out in front of him.

"Wait." San-Li said, all traces of humor gone from her face. "Something's wrong."

"What are you talking about-"

"She's right." Fina said. "I'm getting a bad feeling from her."

Joe shook his head and pushed past them. But then Joleena's fists began to steadily build with dark purple magic, so much darker than her own. And she wasn't speaking, she just kept moving forward with her head down.

"Joleena?" Joe said softly. "Sweetheart, are you oka-"

"Watch it!"

San-Li suddenly tackled him to the ground as a blast from Joleena's fist narrowly missed him and the others, and exploded against the far wall. Joe jumped up and stared at her in horror. San-Li pulled out her sword and took a defensive position next to him while Fina transformed into a lioness and stood next to him as well.

"Joleena," Joe slowly shook his head. "What are you doing? Don't you recognize me?"

Joleena slowly lifted her head and he gasped. Her eyes were completely glazed over and an inky, black mist seeped out of her mouth with every breath she took. She then looked directly at Joe and magic began to build in her hands again.

The man and the woman materialized next to her and smiled.

"I'm afraid whether or not she recognizes you is irrelevant, Joe." The woman said.

"Yes," The man nodded. "Because we're afraid Miss Joleena works for the Tenebrosi Sanction now."

Joleena then lifted her fist, aimed directly at Joe, and blasted.


	19. Chapter 19

Anna barely managed to put up a shield in time, but the blast was too strong and it exploded, sending everyone flying backwards. They crashed to the floor and Sammy screamed in pain, holding his knee.

"My knee!" He cried out. "I-I think it's broken."

San-Li swore loudly and rushed to his side. She pressed gingerly around his leg, making him scream out in pain again.

"It's definitely sprained." San-Li said. "Dammit."

"I'm sorry." Sammy winced in pain. "I'll try to walk it off."

"You'll do no such thing!" San-Li snapped.

"She's coming again!"

Joleena was slowly walking forward. The stones on the ground glowed purple and flew at them in rapidly. Anna put up another shield to protect them, but the first two rocks shattered it to pieces with more coming. Joe stood up and held his hands out.

"Reverse!"

A green glow came over the stones and they reversed trajectory, flying towards Joleena instead. Joleena kept her arms by her side but made the smallest motion with her fingers and her magic deflected the stones, shattering them to pieces. A shard hit her above the eye and blood trickled down her face. And yet she kept coming.

"What do we do?" Fred said in a panic, completely out character for him. "She's way too strong for us!"

"We should leave!" Sam yelled with Sammy's arm around his shoulder. "Joe, use The Book and get us out of here!"

Joe glared at him. "I'm not leaving Joleena."

"I agree." San-Li retook her fighting stance. "I say we take her down."

"No!" Joe's glare turned to her. "Absolutely not!"

San-Li swung her sword out, deflecting a purple blast of magic that would have hit Joe. She turned her head towards him and he could see bright green rings around her irises.

"I'm bonded to protect you, Joe." San-Li said in a serious tone. "No matter who or what is attacking you."

"You can't fight Joleena, you'll get killed!" Sam screamed at her.

San-Li ignored him and started to move forward, but Joe grabbed her arm.

"Don't kill her." Joe said with a pained expression. "Just... buy us some time so we can figure something out."

San-Li looked reluctant, but nodded and her and Keiko raced forward to try and fight Joleena or at the very least, distract her.

"You can't just send my girlfriend off to fight your girlfriend!" Sam yelled angrily at Joe. "Joleena's clearly out of her mind and San-Li and _my_ _daughter_ could get killed! What gives you the right to-"

"Shut the hell up, Sam!" Joe yelled at him and turned to Nathan. "You said you've been secretly studying the Tenebrosi. Do you know any way to stop this?"

"I'm not sure." Nathan rubbed his chin in thought. "They washed the symbols away so it's hard to tell which spell they used on her. But if we could find and defeat that man and woman, maybe it will weaken the spell's influence on Joleena."

"Well where are they so we can kick their butts?" Fred said.

"We're right here."

The man and woman suddenly appeared out of the shadows. Before they could react the man delivered a round house kick that hit Fred square in the chest, knocking him down. Fina immediately transformed into a large white rhino and rammed into him, sending him crashing into the wall.

The woman fired a wind tunnel of shadow magic, but Anna was actually able to deflect it. Nathan flicked his wrist and a wooden staff appeared in his hand. With it he fired a a blast of green magic, a few shades lighter than Joe's magic, and it was actually able to knock the woman back a few feet. The man and woman exchanged looks that were clearly full of surprise.

"They're weaker than before." Nathan said. "Whatever they did to Joleena must have taken some of their magic away."

"Good." Fred quickly got up and spat out blood from his busted lip. "That makes this a lot easier."

"Wait!" Sammy took off his wrist bands and tossed them to Fred. "Put these on and flick your wrists. You'll know what to do after that."

Fred did as he said and the stones glowed red. The metal plates transformed and shifted to form thick metal gloves over his hands. Sparks jumped in between the fine lines of the plates. Fred grinned and stood ready between Nathan and Fina.

The woman gave a nervous smile. "W-well, I guess this will be more interesting than we thought."

"Yes." the man echoed. "Very interesting indeed."

"We got this," Nathan called over his shoulder to Joe and Anna. "You two are the closest emotionally to Joleena. If San-Li and Keiko can manage to weaken her, you guys might be able to break her out of it."

Joe and Anna looked at each other and nodded. Together, they ran over to where San-Li and Keiko were fighting Joleena leaving Nathan, Fred, and Fina to fight the shadow couple.

Fred ran forward towards the man. The man filled his fist with dark magic and aimed a blow at Fred, but Fred grabbed his fist and the dark magic disappeared. The man's eyes widened in shock and was slammed out of Fred's grip by Fina, again in the form of a white rhino. She transformed back into a human and she and her boyfriend exchanged surprised looks of triumphant and raced right into the fight.

* * *

San-Li and Keiko were incredibly fast and moved with deadly accuracy and precision. But Joleena was moving just as fast, was just as deadly, and she kept using her magic to teleport making it almost impossible to get a decent hit on her. But San-Li kept going, propelled by a force other than her own will to survive as the bond magic coursed through her. But she was worried about Keiko, unsure whether she could handle this.

"I'm fine." Keiko yelled as if reading her mind. "You've trained me for years! I can do this, I swear."

San-Li blocked one of Joleena's blows with her swords and dodged away from her kick. "Just be careful."

Keiko gave several jabs of her own but Joleena blocked them. She glanced at San-Li and her eyes held traces of fear. "You too mom."

* * *

Anna waited for an opening. Joleena was distracted enough that she didn't notice her or Joe, but it was hard to track her movements.

"Don't hurt her." Joe reminded her for the fifth time. "We just need to slow to her down."

"I got it." Anna mumbled.

She swiped her hands in a quick horizontal motion sending out a line of her bright pink magic. It flew through the air and made contact with Joleena's wrists, binding them tightly together. Joleena stopped fighting San-Li and Keiko and slowly turned towards her and Joe. Her eyes were still completely glazed over but she was definitely looking at them.

"Joleena, can you hear me?" Anna called out hopefully. "It's Anna, your student and your friend. We're like sisters."

There was an abrupt gust of air and Joleena was suddenly in front of her, both her fists glowing dark purple. Anna gasped and put her forearms up, trying to focus enough to generate a shield. But Joleena was faster and hit her full force with a swing of her fists. Anna screamed as the force of the blow sent her flying, slammed into the ground, and stars danced before her eyes.

Her vision cleared in time to see Joleena racing towards her with more magic building in her now unbound hands.

"Joleena stop!" Joe yelled holding his hands out.

A green glow over came Joleena and she froze. But for some reason his magic wasn't really holding her completely. Joe could feel her magic struggling to break free of his magic, and it took all his strength and focus to keep her frozen. He walked toward her slowly trying to ignore his throbbing head while Anna shakily got to her feet.

"Joleena," Joe said as he cautiously approached her. "Sweetheart. Please try to focus. Break through of the Tenebrosi's hold. You're stronger than this."

"Joe-"

San-Li called his name but he ignored her and kept moving to stand in front of Joleena, still frozen with his magic. Her face remained blank, her eyes glazed over, but they focused on Joe when he stood in front of her.

"You see me don't you?" Joe tried to smile at her. His headache increased and he tried to refocus. "Joleena, you recognize me right?"

"Joe-"

"You can fight this Joleena, I know you can."

"Joe!"

Joe glanced down and finally saw that the magic Joleena was building to blast Anna with had still been building this entire time and was about to explode. Sure enough, cracks appeared in the green glow surrounding Joleena. Joe swore loudly. He wrapped his arms protectively around Anna and shielded them with his magic releasing Joleena in the process. As soon as she was released from his magic, Joleena's magic erupted in a large explosion.

Joe and Anna were knocked completely off their feet and crashed into the grounds, roughly sliding a few feet across the floor. Joe's entire body was sore and there was a ringing in his ears. He looked over and saw that Anna's nose was bleeding.

"I'm fine." She said quickly, wiping her nose on her arm. "But this isn't working. Simple time magic isn't going to stop her."

Joe nodded. "Then let's not make it simple."

Joleena started to dart towards them again, but Keiko teleported close to her and slashed at her with her swords, cutting Joleena's cheeks and distracting her again. San-Li materialized next to Joe and heaved him to his feet.

"We can't keep this up forever Joe." She panted heavily. "We're starting to tire out but Joleena isn't. At least not fast enough."

"Just keep distracting her, but don't kill her." Joe said firmly. "Just make sure you and Keiko clear out when I saw so. Got it?"

San-Li nodded and went back to fighting Joleena who was quickly overpowering Keiko. Anna touched his arm and looked at him expectantly.

"What's the plan?" She asked.

"We combine our magic." Joe watched Joleena carefully to see if she was showing any sign of slowing down. "Stop her with time and magic. Maybe San-Li and Keiko can drain her just enough to weaken her and our combined magic will have some effect on her."

"And then we can talk her down." Anna nodded. "Let's do it!"

Joe tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it fell flat. He turned back and saw that Joleena was easily more than a match for San-Li and Keiko. Behind him he could see Nathan, Fina, and Fred fighting the shadow couple. They looked like they were holding their own, but they had already been through hell. And Sam and Sammy were off to the side with matching looks of helplessness.

Joe shook his head and turned his focus back on Joleena. No matter what happened, they couldn't lose this one. There was too much at stake. And he would never forgive himself if one of them didn't make it. Even if that meant he had to die to protect them.


	20. Chapter 20

San-Li went right. Keiko went left. They leapt into the air and swung their swords in unison with lightning fast speed and accuracy directly at Joleena. There was a sharp zing as their swords collided and locked together. They stared at each other in shock. Joleena suddenly reappeared incredibly close to them and blasted.

"Ahhhh!"

The blast sent them flying through the air and their swords flying out of their hands. Keiko was knocked to the ground, but San-Li was able to land on her feet, sliding a few feet back. She looked over her shoulder to make sure her daughter was alright. Keiko sat up with a groan and rubbed the bruise on her forehead.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I- look out!"

San-Li spun around just in time to see Joleena streak towards her with her fists raised. San-Li dropped, braced her hands on the floor, and spun her legs out. She managed to kick Joleena several times in the back, knocking her away. Joleena quickly spun around though, with a lasso of magic in her hands and whipped it at San-Li. She flipped backwards but the chain wrapped around her ankles and slammed her into the ground.

This had been going on for a while with no sign of stopping. San-Li and Keiko managed to land several hits and cuts on Joleena, covering her in sweat and blood but Joleena kept fighting with minimal signs of tiring out. But San-Li noticed that her movements were becoming half a second slower. And maybe that's all they needed.

Keiko raced forward with her rocket shoes and spun her body in tight, impossibly fast circle, creating a tornado of spinning blades. Joleena blocked several blows before grabbing one of the swords bare handed and shattered the blade. Keiko screamed and San-Li raced forward.

* * *

Fred could barely see out of his left eye and his arm was killing him but he kept fighting. Fina was hurt just as badly if not worse than he was and she wasn't stopping so neither would he. Even though he wanted Fina to be safe above all else, it felt amazing to be fighting with her. Beside them that Nathan was fighting just as hard as they were.

And the man and the woman were definitely loosing. Their cloaks were almost completely torn from their bodies revealing tattoos all over their arms. There were also cuts all over their bodies and their smiles were strained.

"You will not defeat the Tenebrosi Sanction!" The man yelled.

He spread his arms and two large shadow birds flew towards Fred and Fina.

"We will always rise from the shadows!" The woman screamed and created a giant shadow snake that headed towards Nathan.

Nathan fired his staff and completely destroyed the shadow snake. Fina transformed into a cheetah and her and Fred ran forward. Fred used the gloves Sammy gave him to punch the birds, shattering them on impact and Fina leapt towards the man. He dodged out the way, but Fred managed to land a blow on his jaw.

They were going to win this, Fred just knew it.

* * *

Joe watched Joleena feeling nothing but helplessness and guilt inside of him. San-Li and Keiko were fighting hard enough that it looked like Joleena was slowing down a little, but he could easily tell that they were doing a lot worse. They were getting hurt and badly.

Sam was right, Joe had no right to ask San-Li or Keiko to fight Joleena, but he didn't have a choice. No one else was nearly as skilled enough to face Joleena. And the sight of his girlfriend and love of his life being possessed like this was killing him. And he couldn't imagine what would happen if they failed to talk her down. Would he be able to stop her even if he wanted to?

"Joe! Are you watching this?" Anna yelled with some hope in her voice. "Joleena's slowing down! This might work."

"But San-Li and Keiko are slowing down too." Joe muttered. "And they're taking a lot more damage."

"But it's working." Anna insisted. "And they can stop as soon as you give word and we'll be able to contain Joleena and talk her out of this."

"Or at least buy the others enough time to defeat that weird shadow couple." Joe nodded, keeping an eye on Joleena. "Start building up your magic now. Fire at Joleena when I saw so. But don't make it too strong, we don't want to hurt her."

Anna began building her magic but gave him a sad look. "But what if we have to?"

"We won't." Joe said firmly and began to build his own magic.

* * *

San-Li managed to block Joleena's fist, but the vertical kick hit her in the jaw, snapping her head back and making her teeth click painfully. She fell back but then Keiko was right behind Joleena. She swung her sword but Joleena kicked a swipe of magic at Keiko which wrapped around the sword and sent her backwards.

Joleena turned around, fist glowing, and San-Li saw her opportunity. She used her stone to teleport directly behind Joleena, grabbed and pinned her wrist behind her back, and held her glowing fist away from her.

"Snap out of this, poodle." San-Li growled in her ear. "Don't make us hurt you. Don't make Joe hurt you."

Joleena slowly turned her head to look at her and for just a fraction of a second San-Li saw sadness in her eyes.

San-Li instantly turned to yell at Joe. "It's starting to work! Do it fast!"

"Got it! Anna now!"

But then when San-Li turned back to Joleena she saw that her eyes were starting to glow. Dangerously.

"San-Li move!"

"WAIT!"

But it was too late. At the sound of Joe's voice, Joleena head snapped towards him and an impossibly bright blast shot from her eyes. San-Li pushed away just as Joleena's eye blast met Joe and Anna's combined blasts.

There was a massive explosion when the magic met and the tremendous shock wave sent her flying through the air and she smashed into the stone floor. Everyone screamed as the entire room trembled.

San-Li tried to stand but felt an sharp pain in her side that made it hard to breathe. Great. Broken ribs. She ignored the pain though and forced herself to stand. Blood ran freely down her arm and she clenched her fist.

Due to the magnitude of the explosion, parts of the ceiling were starting to crumble down to the floor and dust filled the air. San-Li coughed and a spray of blood came out of her mouth. There was the sound of another explosion. San-Li turned to see Joe and Anna trying to use their magic to contain Joleena. Pink and green swirling magic surrounded Joleena and kept her immobile and on her knees.

It seemed to be working but for who knows how long? San-Li couldn't fight like this for much longer and Keiko...

She looked wildly around for Keiko and saw her a few feet away on her knees. She had a hand on her hip and San-Li was horrified to see blood seeping between her daughter's fingers. Their eyes met and San-Li could feel that Keiko felt afraid but was trying to hide it.

Then it happened, almost in slow motion. A small bit of rubble rained down on Keiko's head. San-Li looked up and saw a large chunk of stone dislodge itself from the ceiling and fall directly over Keiko's head. San-Li didn't think, she just acted.

Ignoring the pain in her side and legs she raced forward. Keiko finally looked up and gasped in horror. San-Li continued to run forward and shouldered Keiko like a line backer, knocking her out of the way just in time to save her.

But not herself.

* * *

Keiko gave a cry of pain as she hit the ground and heard a loud crash. Choking on dust and grime she slowly got up and looked around her in confusion. The dust cleared and she screamed.

* * *

No. no. no no no. This wasn't happening. There was no way that this could be happening right now. Sam ran towards San-Li with his heart in his stomach, tears blurring his vision. Sammy, hobbling on his injured knee, ran towards her as well.

"Mom!" the twins screamed.

The three of them reached her and crowded around her. San-Li was laying on her back under an impossibly large slab of concrete. Pain was etched in her features and her eyes were starting to become foggy.

"Mom, hold on." Keiko's voice cracked and she cradled her face. "W-we can help you. You taught us everything about treating battle wounds and stuff."

San-Li shook her head with some effort and when she spoke her voice was hoarse. "We both know it's too late for that."

"No it isn't." Sammy choked on his tears. "There has to be something we can do. Dad! Tell her!"

Sam could only stare down at San-Li. No, this wasn't happening. It had be some sort of horrible nightmare.

San-Li gave a sudden whimper of pain and a bit of blood seeped out of her mouth. Sam's eyes locked with hers and he knew that this may have been a nightmare, but it was real. The love of his life and the mother of his children was dying before his eyes.

"Don't leave me." Sam whispered brokenly. "Please, don't leave me. I can't live without you."

San-Li smiled and tears filled her eyes. "I'm afraid you don't have a choice."

"Shut up!" Keiko screamed. "You aren't going to die mom! You can't just die!"

"This is why we came back! We were trying to save you!" Sammy was crying in earnest. "You suddenly disappeared from history so we went through time to save you."

"And I'm so proud of you for trying." San-Li slowly reached up to touch their faces. "I'm-so gl-glad that- I got to see- how in-incredible- you two... turned out...to be..."

"Don't talk like that!" Sam shook his head adamantly. "You'll get through this, you always get through this."

"Not this time, dana-sama." San-Li laughed weakly.

The light was quickly fading from her eyes and her hands began to fall from her children's faces. Sam wanted to go over and touch her one last time, but his brain wouldn't communicate with his legs. Her eyes slowly started to slide shut and her smile grew.

"Take care of each other...I love you all.. so...much."

Then San-Li's eyes closed and she was gone.


	21. Chapter 21

"Mooom!" Sammy and Keiko buried their faces in her shoulders and wept.

Sam felt numbness and a cold emptiness in the pit of his stomach. His mouth opened but no sound came out. Sam stared at San-Li's unmoving body as if he expected her to get up at any moment and be okay. Or any minute now his alarm clock would go off and he would wake up in his dorm room.

But then the full force of reality hit him. San-Li was gone. Gone forever. No more laughter, no more passionate kisses, no more violent outbursts.

Sam's knees buckled and he fell to the cold stone floor. There was a light clank and he looked down to see that the pocket watch San-Li had given him had fallen out of his pocket. It felt like forever since she had given it to him.

The latch had broken open when it hit the ground. The watch face was a light cream color with dark brown hands and black roman numerals for the numbers. The second hand made a soft ticking sound as it moved. And carved onto the inside of the lid in an elegant script were the words, _tempus nullus speravit._

"Time waits for no one." Sam whispered.

He then gasped as something clicked in his mind. This watch had been passed down through San-Li's family for generations. Passed through a family of time travellers for generations. _Tempus nullus speravit._ Time waits for no one. Well maybe it would have to.

"Sammy," Sam said in a hoarse voice. "Give me your shoes."

"What?" Sammy's tear stained face turned red with anger. "Why the hell do you care about my shoes!?"

"Just do it Sammy!"

Sammy looked completely pissed but yanked off his shoes and practically threw it at him. He buried his face back in San-Li's shoulder and Sam was disturbed to notice that the twins were already starting to fade. He quickly pushed that out of his mind though and shoved on the shoes.

An explosion sounded behind him, but he barely heard it. Instead he crawled over to San-Li and cupped her cheek. Already it was starting to feel cold.

"I'll be back sweetheart." He whispered. "I promise."

Sam picked up the pocket watch, wound it back ten minutes, and pressed in the dial.

For a moment Sam was blinded by a bright yellow light and his entire body felt like it was made out of air. Then cold stone slammed into his knees, sending a tremor throughout his body. The reast of the world slowly came into focus and he found himself next to Sammy on the other side of the room again. Even better, on his feet were the rocket shoes.

"It worked." He said breathlessly. "I-I'm back."

There was the sound of an explosion. And when the dust disitaped he could see Joe and Anna firing beams of magic from their hands which swirled around Joleena who had fallen to her knees.

Which mean he didn't have much time.

"San-Li!"

Sam leapt up and started to run. A bit of rubble rained down on Keiko's head. She looked up just as San-Li shouldered her out of the way. But then San-Li fell and it was clear that she was too hurt to move out the way.

Sam clicked his heels together and shot across the floor. San-Li looked up just as the concrete was about to crash down on her.

But this time, Sam reached her before it did.

The stone crashed down a fraction of a second before he tackled her, carrying them both with the force of the shoes. They crashed to the ground, the wind knocked out of both their lungs, and tumbled across the floor. When they finally stopped, Sam was on top of her shielding her body with his.

"Sam?" San-Li choked on dust and looked at him in concern. "What the hell are you doing? You could have gotten hurt."

"Y-you're okay. Thank God, you're okay!" Tears filled his eyes and he kissed her hard on the mouth.

San-Li gently pushed him off and grabbed her side. "Yeah, I guess I owe you one huh?"

Sam smiled, tears still running down his face, and hugged her tightly. "You don't owe me a thing."

San-Li looked behind him and when he looked he saw Joe staring at them with an unreadable expression on his face, while he was still trying to contain Joleena. And it was clear that he had seen it all. Sam felt uncontrollable rage build up inside of him.

"Do you see what hap- what almost happened!?" Sam screamed at Joe. "She could have died!"

San-Li put a hand on his shoulder. "Sam don't."

"I told you something like would happen!" Sam continued to scream. "You need to end this and this now!"

Joe's magic faltered for half a second and he slowly shook his head. "Sam, I-I'm sorry, I-"

"Joe!" Anna suddenly screamed. "It's breaking!"

* * *

They had the shadow couple cornered against the wall. They were clearly too weak to fight, but too stubborn to give up. The two backed against the wall, their eyes darting around, trying to calculate a way to get of this but it was clearly no use.

Fred felt elated that they won, even though the room was beginning to spin around him. He knew from years of football games and being tackled that it probably meant he had a concussion, but he was too relieved to care. Finally this nightmare was over.

"It's over!" Nathan yelled. "Tell us how to break the spell on Joleena!"

The man and woman looked at each other with shaky smiles. "We'd certainly love to, but-"

"-it wouldn't be part of the Tenebrosi Sanction's plan."

"We don't care about your stupid plans!" Fred yelled.

The man and the woman exchanged another look of shaky fear. This was it, everything was about to finally end. But then Fred heard Sam yelling something at Joe and when he turned his head he saw Joe and Anna firing their magic at Joleena while for some reason Sam was holding San-Li in his arms.

Joe became distracted by Sam's yelling and a bright purple glow began to emenate from Joleena. The pink and green magic surrounding Joleena began to crack and expand. Oh, no.

"Look out!" Fred screamed and tackled Fina to the ground, covering her body with his.

There was an earth shattering explosion and the world turned white, all sound became muted. Fred felt several pieces of flying debris hit him, but than thankfully the biggest pieces zipped over him. Once the high pitched buzzing in his ear began to fade, he cautiously looked up.

Everything was covered in a fine layer of dust and large pieces of rubble and broken stone lay everywhere. Fina shifted under him and he quickly got off of her.

"You okay?" He asked checking all over her for any sign of injury that she didn't already have.

Fina nodded and coughed weakly. "Y-yeah, I think so. You?"

Fred nodded despite the throbbing pain in his ankle. He checked to see if Nathan was okay and saw him staring at something with a semi-horrified look on his face. Fred turned to see what it was and quickly covered Fina's eyes.

The shadow man had been stabbed several times with large pieces of sharp stone sharpenel. Blood poured from his wounds and he slowly slumped to the floor, dead. The woman stared at her dead husband. Her lips formed a shaky, manic grin but her eyes showed pure terror. Trembling, she turned to them and gave a heartbroken wail that was also filled with rage before disappearing in a swirl of black smoke.

"Is, is it over?" Fred asked in a shaky voice. "Did we win?"

"What happened?" Fina asked in a small voice. "Are they dead?"

Before either of them could answer her, Joe gave a terrified scream that was all too familiar to Fred.

"Annaaaaaa!"

* * *

Joe and Anna fired at Joleena as soon as San-Li told them that she was starting to falter. Their blast met an eye blast from Joleena, something that he didn't even know she could do, but combined his and Anna's magic went through it and was able to surround Joleena. The magic caused an explosion, but Joe stood his ground.

Everything as going as planned, but then he heard Sammy and Keiko scream. He looked over and saw San-Li lying under a piece of concrete that had fallen from the ceiling. Joe knew even without having to ask that San-Li was dead. Her wailing children and Sam's blank stare said it all.

But then there was a bright yellow light and he felt everything shift. And this time he saw Sam cradling a very alive San-Li in his arms. Sam glared daggers at Joe and began yelling.

"Do you see what hap- what almost happened!?" Sam screamed at Joe. "She could have died!"

Could have died? Joe knew for a fact that San-Li did die. He didn't now how he knew, but he did. He started to stammer out an apology, but then Anna screamed. He turned back around just in time to see Joleena's magic burst out and completely destroy the magic barrier he and Anna built.

The ground literally came apart and a blinding light filled the room. Joe came to on his knees with a painful buzzing in his easr that seemed to vibrate through his bones. He was an idiot. Such a stupid, stupid idiot. If only he had maintained his focus. The spots in front of his eyes faded and he coughed.

"Anna?" He called hoarsely. "Anna, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot, I should have..."

His voice trailed off when he looked over and saw his sister laying unconcious against a piece of rock and blood running down the side of her face.

"Annaaaa!"

It was like deja vu. Horrible, horrible deja vu.

 _Mad Jack's maniacal laughter. A blinding green light. Anna laying unconscious with blood pouring from her temple. Fred and Sam trying desperately to keep pressure on the wound._

And it was all Joe's fault.

Dead. His sister was dead. San-Li had died. How many people had to die because of him?

"Ughn..." Anna groaned and began to stir.

Tears of relief sprung to Joe's eyes. He scrambled over to her and caught up her hands in his. Anna groaned again and slowly opened her eyes.

"I screwed up." Joe shook his head. "I'm- I'm so sorry Anna."

Anna started to sit up but gave up with a small cry of pain.

"Fina! Get over here!" Joe screamed.

Fina ran over with Fred following close behind. Fina leaned down and peered closely at Anna. Without a word, Fred whipped off his shirt and handed it to Fina who pressed it against the gash on Anna's forehead.

"She'll be fine." Fina whispered. "But she can't fight anymore, Joe."

"I know," Joe licked his dry lips. "Get her somewhere safe. And you stay safe too. All of you."

Fina nodded and Fred scooped Anna up in his arms. There was a rustling noise and he looked over to see Joleena rising from the jagged dent in the ground. Her face now looked weary, but it was clear she was still possessed. Black smoke leaked from her mouth and she turned towards Joe. Their eyes locked before her expression went blank again and Joe felt something burst in his chest.

He stood up on shaky legs and felt his magic course through his body, much stronger than it had ever been.

"Joe?" Anna asked in a weak voice. "What are you going to do?"

"Sam's right." Joe whispered, not taking his eyes off Joleena. "I have to end this. Now."

Joleena stared back at him blankly and her dark purple magic filled her hands once more. Joe stared back at her and forced himself to focus only on her. This was either going to end with Joleena cured, or both of them dead.

"Joleena, if you can hear me I want you to know one thing." Joe forced himself to swallow back tears. "I love you."

Joe then streaked forward, propelled by his magic, and headed directly towards her.

 **A/N- Thanks for reading and don't forget to review even if its completely anonymous :)**


	22. Chapter 22

Joe deflected each of Joleena's blows with his own magic filled fists again and again and again. He let himself be fueled by his anger and guilt which made his magic stronger. Anna could have died yet again because of him. San-Li actually had died because of him. Joleena had been kidnapped, tortured, and was now the Tenebrosi's puppet because of him. Everything was his fault, now he just hoped it wasn't too late to protect the people he loved.

Joleena suddenly disappeared, then reappeared behind him aiming a round house kick at his head. Joe blocked it and then formed a chain around her ankle, flinging her away. She landed hard on her side, rolling across the ground with momentum before coming to a stop.

"Joleena please." Joe begged as he watched her stand up again. "You need to fight this because I don't want to fight you."

For half a moment he thought he saw something flicker in her eyes, but then she slammed both fists into the ground, causing a rift to explode towards him. Joe slammed his fists into ground, using his magic to reverse the rift so it headed towards Joleena instead. Again she disappeared and reappeared mere inches in front of him.

Before he could fully react her fist connected with jaw and before he could hit the ground Joleena kicked him in the side. He slammed into the wall hard, creating a dent and fell to the floor. Joe's breath came in ragged gasps and there was an excruciating pain in his ribcage. Every limb trembled as he got up on his hands and knees and he coughed up blood.

"Joleena," Joe stood up shakily. "I don't want to kill you. Don't force me to make that decision."

Again her expression wavered. Tears filled Joleena's eyes but when she blinked the tears were gone. Instead she leapt into the air and flew towards him with a powerful flying kick, fueled by her magic. Joe dodged out of the way so she hit the wall and before she could move he pinned her to the wall with her arm behind her back.

"Dammit Joleena, I know you're in there." Joe said angrily. "I can see you're trying to fight this. You almost killed Anna!"

Joleena's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Anna?"

Her voice was barely above a whisper, but Joe definitely heard it. But then Joleena shoved herself away from the wall, propelled herself with a kick, and flipped backwards over him. Joe felt her wrist strain and let go of her before he broke it.

Joleena landed on her feet but stumbled. Her eyes looked weary and her breathing was heavy. Joe faced her and realized that he wasn't in much better shape either. But he ran forward and fired several blasts of his magic at her. She dodged them all and countered by sending several gusts of her own magic.

Joe narrowly avoided them, but then suddenly a wave circled around and knocked him onto his side. He barely managed to roll away as her foot slammed down, creating a small dent in the floor. When she tried to kick him with her other foot he grabbed her ankle and launched her through the air.

She crashed to the ground with pain written all over her features, but before she could fully stand, Joe shot forward with his fists raised. Her hands came up to block his and when their magic collided their was yet another explosion, but the two of them remained locked their faces close together. Her eyes were still dark, but it was definitely fading. But couldn't hold on much longer.

"It doesn't have to be this way." Joe pleaded. "I can tell their hold is weakening on you. Stop this before you seriously get hurt."

"Stop...me..." Joleena's voice was barely audible. "Before... I... kill you."

But then her eyes lit up and Joe had to push away from her and duck in order to miss the blast. He felt it singe the top of his head and raised his arm to block her round house kick. He was starting to feel his magic weaken as his anger was replaced with growing frustration.

"I don't know to stop you without killing you!" Joe yelled.

"You... have...to." Joleena shot forward and he had to deflect her power filled blows.

"But you are fighting this!" Joe used his magic to form a chain like he'd seen her do a hundred times and lassoed her wrists. "You just have to fight a little harder. You can do this I know you can!"

"I'll... kill... you..."

"No you won't! I know you won't!"

But then Joleena yanked the hard enough to propel Joe forward and she shot towards him. He tried to sidestep to avoid hitting her head on, but when she brushed by him something sharp tore into his torso, wringing a cry of pain from his lips.

Joe stumbled to a stop and put a hand on his throbbing side. When he pulled his hand away it was covered with blood. Joleena turned around slowly and in her hand was a dagger made out of her magic and the tip was covered with blood. His blood.

Joleena looked horrified and for a brief moment her eyes returned to normal. But then the darkness returned and her dagger transformed into a sword.

"Stop...me..." She barely managed to choke out. "P-please..."

She then flew forward and swung her sword. Joe dodged each swing but could feel himself loosing blood every second. But tears stung his eyes from a greater pain. He had to face it, he just wasn't a match for Joleena. And when she finished with him, she'd move on to the others. And Joe couldn't let that happen.

When she came towards him again he blasted the sword out of her hand, grabbed her wrists, and held them behind her back. Their faces were close together again and Joe took a long look into her dark empty eyes, trying to see the girl he loved for possibly the last time.

"I...love..." Joleena tried to speak but couldn't finish the words.

"I love you too." Joe choked back tears. "And I'm sorry I had to do this."

Joe built up the last of his magic into his free hand, making it as jagged and forceful as possible. He then gave her one last shaky smile and blasted her directly in the abdomen right below her chest.

Joleena screamed as the magic blasted through her. The darkness disappeared completely from her eyes before they closed completely and her magic disappeared. Joe held her limp body in his arms and slowly lowered her to the ground as his own knees buckled.

Joe cradled her in his arms as tears ran down his face. Joleena's eyes were closed and there was a jagged gash in her abdomen where he had blasted her. The wound wasn't bleeding but the edges were glowing a faint green color.

"Joleena," He whispered faintly. "Joleena, please wake up. Open your eyes sweetheart. Please."

He vaguely heard his name being called but he was deaf to everything except for the sound of his own ragged breathing. And he was blind to everything except for Joleena laying dead in his arms. Joe leaned forward until his forehead rested against hers and his mouth brushed against her lips.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you." He whispered tearfully. "I tried so hard to save you but I failed."

But suddenly Joe felt the slightest puff of air against his lips and he sat up to look at her. Seconds ticked by and his heart rose into his throat. But then Joleena's eyes slowly opened, completely clear of the Tenebrosi's dark magic.

"J-Joe..." She smiled weakly and lifted a shaking hand to touch his face. "Thank... you..."

Fresh tears sprung to Joe's eyes and hugged her tightly, burying his face in face in the crook of her neck. He cried silently into her hair and held his girlfriend securely in his arms.

"I'm sorry." Joleena whispered and he felt her tears on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry I put you through that."

"It doesn't matter." Joe chocked out. "As long as your okay, nothing else matters. And from now on, I'll always be there to protect you."


	23. Epilouge

They may have saved Joleena and defeated the shadow man, but Antonia and the rest of the Tenebrosi Sanction had escaped. Most of them were too injured to move very far but when Nathan made a quick scour of the castle he found that absolutely everything had been cleared out.

And after Fina came came back from flying around the island, she found that they had even cleared out the mountain where the mass grave had been.

But as far as Joe was concerned someone else could deal with all that crap. Nathan wasn't happy about him just leaving, but he didn't care. All that mattered to Joe was keeping his friends and family safe.

* * *

About a week later Joe pulled up to Joleena's place. He cringed when he saw a gold Rolls-Royce already parked in the driveway. He had never seen it before but he already knew that the car belonged to Mr. Beauchene. Great. That meant more of his accusatory looks and snide remarks.

"Whatever," Joe mumbled. "He's just going to have to deal with me."

The maid let him in and upstairs he could hear Mr. Beauchene's thunderous voice and Joleena's sharp quick voice. Both were raised in a heated argument. The stairs then trembled as he stomped down the stairs and when he spotted Joe he immediately stormed over.

"What?" Joe asked standing his ground. "Going to yell at me again? Maybe spin me around the room?"

Mr. Beauchene glared down at him and pulled out his wallet. "No, I'm going to bribe you."

"Um, excuse me?" Joe raised an eye brow. "Bribe me to do what exactly?"

"Break up with my daughter." Mr. Beauchene pulled out a thick wad of bills and held them out to him. "If you want to wait for her injuries to heal, fine. But I will pay you eight hundred dollars to break off your relationship with Joleena."

Joe clenched his fists to resist the urge to knock the money out of his hands. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you because there's no way that you just said what I think you just said."

"Three of my daughter's ribs are broken," Mr. Beauchene said in a low voice. "and there is a gash in her abdomen that could have easily been fatal. Next time she might not be so lucky."

"You don't think I know that!?" Joe snapped. "You don't think I have to live with that for the rest of my life!?"

"Then do the right thing, Joseph!"

"I am doing the right thing!" Joe forced himself to take a breath and lowered his voice. "Look, Mr. Beauchene whether you like it or not, I'm in Joleena's life and I plan to be with her for a very, very long time. So deal with it!"

And with that Joe brushed past him and headed up the stairs. He heard the front door slam and breathed a sigh of relief. That actually went a lot better than he was expecting. He opened the door to Joleena's room and found her laying on her chaise lounge.

"Daddy, I told you-" She stopped and smiled when she saw it was him. "Oh its, you."

"Yep, just your loving and devoted boyfriend." Joe knelt down next to her and kissed her forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Horrible of course." Joleena winced as she sat up. "And I keep having nightmares. Or memories. I don't know which anymore."

"Yeah, I'm not doing so great either." Joe sighed and sat on the floor.

Joleena echoed his sigh. She then manifested a pack of cigarettes, lit one up, and starting smoking. Joe started to get up to open the window but without even moving, Joleena used her magic to open it. Joe settled back down and took one of her hands. He slowly kissed her fingers one by one.

"Daddy tried to convince me to come back home. He doesn't think I should live alone anymore." Joleena paused and took a long drag. "And I agree. So I've asked Anna if she would like to move in with me."

"Anna?" Joe stopped and looked at her. "Why her? I wouldn't mind moving in with you."

A ghost of a smile flitted across her face. "Joseph, you know very well that I don't plan on moving with any man until I am married."

Joe forced himself to smile."Okay, your lost."

Joleena chuckled and continued to smoke. Joe cast a worried look at her. He knew that she only smoked when she was really stressed out which was completely expected considering all that she had been through. Her eyes still had a hazy, far off look to them and under her concealer he could see bruises.

"So," Joleena said after a long silence. "What do we plan on doing, Joseph?"

Joe smiled against her palm. "Well, I was thinking that once you were a little less sore, we could look ourselves in you room and-"

"I'm serious, Joseph." Joleena cut him off with a small laugh. "Have you forgotten that Antonia and the Tenebrosi have an entire undead army out there somewhere?"

"Have you forgotten that you were almost killed?" Joe's voice raised ever so slightly. "I'm not risking anything right now! At least not until we get some decent training in. And that's only so we can defend ourselves."

"Then we'll train!" Joleena's voice rose as well. "Come! We will start immediately!"

Joleena started to get up but Joe gently pressed against her heavily bandaged sternum where her wound was. She let out a soft hiss of pain and sat down again.

"Rest." Joe gave her a serious look. "None of us are doing anything until we are fully recovered. And I mean it Joleena. You need to rest."

"Fine." Joleena evaporated her current cigarette in purple flames and lit another one. "But I refuse to let you leave me out of this. When you train, I train too."

Joe heaved a weary sigh and nodded. "Alright."

His phone began to ran and when he checked the caller ID he saw that it was San-Li. He told Joleena that he'd be right back and he stepped out into the hall to answer it.

"Hey," He said. "What did you find?"

"Well, it took me almost twelve hours, but I think I deciphered the texts correctly." San-Li said. "Lucky for us, I happened to take pictures of the most important stuff."

Joe felt his breath hitch. "You found a way to defeat them?"

"Yes Joe, I actually found the exact instructions on how to defeat an entire evil organization." He could practically hear San-Li roll her eyes. "Ow! Kei-Kei, mommy's on the phone. I'll get you juice in a minute."

Joe winced when he heard an indignant shriek on the other end. "San-Li..."

"Okay, okay, the information involved that undead army of theirs." She continued. "Turns out unearthing them was only part one of their plain. There seems to be a few other steps they plan to take before they wage war."

"Do we know how long they plan to wait?" Joe gave a weak chuckle. "I was hoping for at least twenty years."

"Don't we all?" San-Li said dryly. There was a another small shriek on the other end of the phone. "Look, we can talk more in detail later? These kids are about to drive me crazy and Sam keeps nagging me about...you know...you."

Joe sighed. "So I guess it's safe to say he still hates me huh?"

"He'll get over it." San-Li said quickly. "Laters."

"Later."

Joe hung up and went back into Joleena's room.

"What was that about?" She asked.

"Nothing much." Joe sat down and pulled her feet into his lap to massage them. "San-Li's just doing me a favor that's all."

"Hmm." Joleena closed her eyes and tilted her head back. "War huh?"

Joe stopped massaging then started again. "So I guess you heard my conversation then."

"Your voice isn't loud but its kind of deep, so yes, I could hear you."

"All I want to do is keep you safe." Joe muttered. "That's all I care about right now."

"My magic is now stronger than its ever been." Joleena smiled at him, but her eyes were dark with pain. "So I believe I can handle myself, now."

Joe pressed his lips together and looked away. "Let's just hope that it never comes to that then."

 **A/N- Hope you guys enjoyed Fallen Light! Up next you'll see everyone getting a little older and their lives start taking the next steps into adulthood. Don't forget to review!**


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